At Road to SPORTO 2026 in Ljubljana, there was a lot of talk about sport, but in many ways even more about people. What makes someone identify with a club, come back to a game, or stay loyal to a team even when the result doesn’t go their way? And how does a crowd of individuals become a community?

The relationship with a fan doesn’t end with the ticket. That may be where it starts.

This year’s event focused on sports fans and their communities: how to understand them, build a sense of belonging, and create relationships that go beyond simply watching a game. The program brought together real-life examples, discussions, and different perspectives from the sports and business worlds.

The Fan Experience Is Bigger Than the Game

One of the more interesting ideas was that the fan experience doesn’t start with a ticket and doesn’t end with the final whistle. Going to a game can be just one of many touchpoints in the broader ecosystem a club builds for its audience. What happens at the stadium, content and communication, loyalty programs, benefits, cashback, merchandise, and other ways of getting involved can all become part of how fans experience a club beyond the game itself.

This is something we at Ticklio could naturally relate to. Our perspective is also expanding from individual transactions to the user journey as a whole, and to how different services and touchpoints can come together as one connected experience. It’s no longer just about getting someone to the game, but about everything that happens before, during, and after it.

Every Community Is Different

There’s no single formula for this. Football, hockey, running, and combat sports communities all have different characteristics, motivations, and ways of connecting. Some people come for the game, others for the social experience, a sense of belonging, or a particular athlete. That diversity creates room for different ways of engaging people, and for finding what matters to each audience.

The discussion around partnerships between sport and brands was equally interesting. A successful partnership isn’t necessarily the most visible one. It also needs to fit naturally into the world of fans and offer them something meaningful. When a brand becomes part of something people genuinely use, experience, or value, the partnership takes on a different dimension.

Loyalty Is Built on More Than Results

One of the broader takeaways was that fan loyalty is built on much more than results. It’s shaped by content, people, benefits, events, and all the smaller interactions that, over time, influence how someone relates to a club or athlete. Technology isn’t the goal here, but a tool that can help connect the different parts of this ecosystem and make them more accessible and relevant.

It’s exactly how we think about the Ticklio ecosystem: sales, communication, an online shop, supporter data, and loyalty coming together, so a club can build a relationship with its fans that lasts well beyond a single matchday.

The Best Conversations Happen Between Sessions

The event wasn’t only valuable for its content. Some of the best conversations happened between sessions, over coffee, during breaks, and in more informal discussions. We met new people from sports clubs, federations, organizations, agencies, and companies, and had the chance to look at our own work from the perspective of people working in very different environments.

Events like this are more than a collection of presentations. They’re a space for exchanging experiences, making new connections, and picking up ideas that find their way back into our everyday work. We left Ljubljana with new contacts, a few fresh perspectives, and a renewed sense of just how broad the world of sports fans can be, and how much room there is to create better, more connected, and more engaging ways for people to be part of sport.

Because the relationship with a fan doesn’t end with the ticket. That may be where it starts.