Last month, soccer-focused media platform OneFootball and US Media, its exclusive ad partner in the Americas, announced a business expansion to the US and Americas, and the appointment of Fabio Sa as vice president of sales and partnerships.
The Brazilian native joined the company from Minute Media, the digital media brand owner, where he worked for nine years, focused on all soccer business for its brands, including Sports Illustrated, The Players’ Tribune, and 90min, globally and in the US. He also previously worked at Turner Sports (WBD) in Brazil.
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OneFootball has a community of more than 200 million users worldwide. The platform is backed by many major clubs, such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Olympique de Marseille, Liverpool, and Juventus, as well as the German Football Federation (DFB) and Major League Soccer, which acquired a stake in the company last year.
US Media serves as the exclusive ad partner of OneFootball across all the Americas, including key markets such as the US, Brazil, and Mexico, offering advertising services for brands, agencies, and publishers.
The popularity of soccer has grown significantly in the US market as it builds up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The country also staged the revamped Club World Cup in the summer, as the sport enters the mainstream market and gains traction against traditionally dominant sports leagues like the NFL, NBA, and MLB.
Sa has spent his 23-year career focused on the business of soccer and, more recently, growing the sport in the US market.
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By GlobalDataDuring a key moment for the soccer landscape in the US, Sa spoke to Sportcal to discuss his new role and targets with OneFootball, how to capitalize on the World Cup, and what to expect after next year’s tournament.
Could you explain your new role and OneFootball's business expansion in the US?
“US Media is the official ad seller of OneFootball for everything in the Americas. It represents OneFootball’s business in the region, and US Media were the ones who hired me to run the OneFootball project. US Media has been around for over 23 years and is in the business of representing big companies, publishers, and brands in countries where these brands do not yet have a presence.
“To this point, it has done a great job south of the equator towards Latin America (LATAM), and with OneFootball, they started their expansion towards the US. Firstly, OneFootball gave US Media a remit to accelerate its existing business in LATAM.
“They had a business footprint already in LATAM but wanted to accelerate it, and US Media is the perfect partner for that. Secondly, OneFootball wanted to double down in the biggest consumer market in the world, in the US. How I fit into this equation is because I have both the history and track record in LATAM.
“Coming from Brazil, I've done business and started entire companies there in my recent past. The past four years of my career have been spent in the US, in the business of soccer. Because I have this combination, US Media and OneFootball joined forces in hiring me to run their business in the Americas.”
How can OneFootball capitalize on this key moment for soccer in the US?
“OneFootball is the only soccer publisher in the world that is owned by the football powerhouses. The fact that these big clubs, leagues, and federations have skin in the game allows us a very differentiated access. Access to content, talent, tickets, and the games. We are probably the publisher that has the biggest amount of access to what really matters in the game, which are the global powerhouses. Reach is very important. It's not unique, because other publishers have reach, but the fact that we are owned by the football clubs and leagues and have a massive global and localized reach is important.
“It's hard for you to sell a project or a product in the market if you don't have the eyeballs to go against it. Globally, we have around 200 million users, and in the US, we have crossed the 10 million unique users barrier, it’s closer to 11 million. We're expecting it to get closer to 20 million when the World Cup comes around, which is a steep growth in a very important country.
“The third very important unique value proposition is that we have a captive audience. When you have an app that has 11 million active users who are logged to your app and downloaded it to their phones, and 90% of those have authorized us to send push notifications to their lock screen, that's huge. We're reaching almost 10 million users instantaneously in the US.
“We can deliver content and meaningful campaigns directly to people's phones because we know so much about our users and the fan journey. We craft this content and these campaigns in a way that we don't have negative reactions, because we're delivering to the users what we know they like. It's a combination of differentiated access, massive reach, and a very customized ability to reach targeted audiences.”
In your role, you're responsible for sales and partnerships, so what type of partners are you looking for?
“There's a World Cup cycle that's kicked off already and will have its first of many peaks in December, and then again when the team squads are released, at the end of Q1 or beginning of Q2 next year. The kind of partners that we're looking for are both endemic partners to the game, so the official sponsors of FIFA, the US men's national team (USMNT), or the Mexican Federation. But most importantly, because of our ability to reach ultra-targeted audiences, it's almost less important if a brand is a sponsor or not.
“Sometimes we are the solution for the non-sponsor brands, because the sponsor brands can be anywhere. We can have brands from the automotive and betting categories, and any other category that is investing in sports, specifically in soccer, is welcome at OneFootball. But more than that, the traction we're getting in the market is also coming from brands that are simply targeting the people who love soccer, regardless of whether they're official sponsors or not, and in some other cases, in some of the publishers, they can't do that because they don't have the precision that we have here.
“If we're talking to, for example, an automaker that is not an official sponsor of FIFA or the USMNT, they can still use our platform to firstly position themselves as a partner of soccer, regardless of an official status or not, they can still sponsor and offer that content. Most importantly, they can reach their audience with very little dispersion, because we're one of the very few publishers or content providers in the market that can deliver something as targeted because of the app that we have.”
Being in the US market, your relationship with MLS is quite significant. What do you do, specifically, with the league, and do you collaborate commercially?
“Our relationship with the leagues, as much as with the clubs and federations, is based on content more than anything. They use us as the best outlet that they have for the content that they produce. Be it highlights, news, or interviews, etc., they know that it's going to be harder for them to reach the soccer fans directly on their phones if it's not through us. That's true for MLS, but also for European powerhouses like Real Madrid and Barcelona.
“In the US, specifically, it's easier in some sense to reach out to the brands that have already understood the importance of sponsoring a league like MLS, for example. We're talking to brands like Audi, Allstate, and DoorDash. With these brands, you don't need to convince them that soccer is important – it's already part of their DNA. Because MLS is a shareholder of OneFootball, that puts us in a privileged position when we are in discussions with brands like these.”
Are you supporting your shareholder clubs in their commercial plans in the US?
“Yes, for sure. One of the coolest things that we have is knowing exactly who the fans of each team are. Not only can we craft the message to specific media targets, but we can also do so to soccer targets. For example, a potential LaLiga game in Miami or anywhere else in the US goes way above and beyond the LaLiga fan; it's a life-changing event for anyone who loves sports, specifically soccer.
“We almost don't have to tailor it to the fans of the teams who are going to play, but whenever we have big games or meaningful content, it's easier and more engaging when you tailor that content to somebody who you already know is a fan of that club. Every meaningful club out there that has meaningful content has a relationship with OneFootball in one way or another. It's either by being a part owner of the platform, and/or by having a content relationship with the platform, which is also a possibility.”
You have been in the soccer industry for over 20 years. Did you ever think it would grow to the level it's at now in the US?
“Yes, I did, and that's the reason why I moved to the US four years ago. It was not because of Lionel Messi – because nobody even thought about Messi being in MLS six years ago – and it was not because of the World Cup. It was mostly because I understood that there was a tectonic shift happening in the game when American money started to get into Europe and into leagues and clubs outside of Europe. More than half of the Premier League belongs to American money, as do the two biggest clubs in Italy. Look at what's happening in France and Brazil.
“So, it's only natural for American venture capitalists and multi-club groups to look at global powerhouses in soccer and see the biggest expansion that they might not be able to see in the US anymore, because the NFL and NBA are stagnant in terms of growth. Of course, they're growing, but they're not going to grow at the same rate as global football companies, because they're not clubs anymore. Global football companies can grow in a market like the US.
“When I realized this six or seven years ago, that's when I sat down with my then bosses, and I told them that we’ll miss out if we don't take this bull by the horns and don't establish a proper, authentic footprint in soccer in the US. So yes, I did expect the growth of the game here, and I do expect it to continue growing after the World Cup. Obviously, the World Cup is the peak; it's an artificial growth, but it goes way above and beyond 2026.”
How do you maintain momentum beyond next year's World Cup?
“It's an easy answer, but at the same time, it's easier said than done. I believe in honesty and authenticity. Everybody who's out there trying to sell something is going to try to position themselves within soccer. You know who's been doing this all their lives and who hasn't. You know who's looking at this as an opportunity to cash in a few million bucks and then move on to the next thing. I want to be involved with this game for as long as I can.
“I've been doing this for 23 years, and I want to do this for 23 years more. I believe in authenticity and that brands are also looking for that, because if you're not authentic, you can make mistakes and use the wrong tone. What I believe will happen after 2026 is that whoever is not authentic is going to move on to the next big thing.
“Maybe it's the Olympics, pickleball, or something else. I want to remain involved with those who are authentic. In my case here, OneFootball has been doing this for almost 18 years now, and it's not called OneFootball for any other reason than the fact that it's only concentrated in one sport. What I believe will happen after the World Cup is many bandwagoners will just go, and we're going to be back to where we were five, six years ago, where it was only a handful of us who were really, deeply, authentically talking about soccer, be it in the US or in any other country.”
