Digital platform Dugout has backing of soccer teams, players that promise exclusive content

Digital platform Dugout has backing of soccer teams, players that promise exclusive content.

Read about the latest sports tech news, innovations, ideas and products that impact players, fans and the sports industry at SportTechie.com.

Dugout, a digital content platform that has the combined support of many of the most powerful football clubs in the world, was launched Monday.

Dugout enables those teams, players like Edinson Cavani, and legends like Pele to release on their own channels videos, articles, and images to reach their fans, including some content that will be available on the platform for 24 hours before being released on social media channels.

The exclusivity of that content and backing of so many teams is part of a push to make Dugout the primary source for fans, who can customize the newsworthy and behind-the-scenes lifestyle content they consume while creating their own profile pages on the social media network.

Subscribe to the
SportTechie Newsletter

Subscribe

• An inside look at ESPN's Ric Flair doc
• Sling TV goes head-to-head with Playstation Vue
• Under Armour partners with fishing app

Dugout has partnerships with AC Milan, Arsenal FC, AS Monaco, AS Roma, Atletico Madrid, Celtic FC, Chelsea FC, Club América, Crystal Palace FC, Dinamo Zagreb, Everton, FC Barcelona, FC Bayern Munich, FC Porto, Galatasaray, Juventus, LA Galaxy, Liverpool FC, Manchester City FC, Manchester City WFC, Olympic Marseille, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid CF, SC Corinthians Paulista, Southampton FC, Stoke City FC, Sunderland AFC, Swansea City, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United.

Dugout has signed partnerships with more than 150 players, including Cavani, Gareth Bale, Alexis Sanchez, Joe Hart and Neymar, according to The Guardian. The site currently has pages for Erik Lamela, Gianluigi Buffon, Patrice Evra and Paulo Dybala.

“Dugout was devised and built for the fans,” president and co-founder Elliot Richardson said in a statement. “The game today is truly global and fans don’t just want to watch matches in their own country – they want to follow their favourite clubs and players across the world, on and off the pitch. That’s what Dugout offers – unrivaled access so fans get behind the scenes of the clubs and into the lives of the players.

“A combination of factors – from the explosion of international TV rights to the rise of social media – have provided Dugout with an unprecedented opportunity to reach the estimated 3.5 billion football fans across the world. We think they will love what they see.”

Dugout ins available in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese and Bahasa Indonesian.

The Dugout app is scheduled to launch Dec. 5 and will be available on the App Store or Google Play.