The Interview: Wolfgang Muller - F2O Sports

1. Wolfgang, you have a fruitful and relevant experience in the sport and technology industry. What have been the main changes in the sport industry over the last 10-15 years, especially focused on the sport tech side?

Great question. If I had to summarize the biggest change over the last fifteen years, it would be this and I’ll put it in quotes as I say it all the time: “We've moved from the attention economy to the participation economy.”

Fifteen/Twenty years ago, most clubs measured success by attendance. The focus was on filling stadiums and growing matchday revenues. The more people in seats, the more sponsors came calling.

Ten years ago, the focus shifted to followers. Social media created a race for audience growth, and success was often measured by likes, impressions, and follower counts.

Today, the most successful organizations are focused on participation and fan experience.

Fans no longer want a one way relationship with their clubs. They expect interaction, access, influence, and increasingly some form of value exchange. They want to feel connected to the clubs they support, not simply consume content from them.

And perhaps most importantly, the next generation of fans doesn't just appreciate this level of engagement, they expect it. In many ways, they demand it.

Technology is of course the driver behind this evolution. It enables clubs to build direct relationships with supporters around the world, personalize experiences, gather meaningful insights, and create communities that extend far beyond the stadium.

At the same time, sports clubs are no longer competing only against other clubs for attention. They are competing against Netflix, TikTok, Twitch, gaming platforms, podcasts, and every other form of entertainment available at a fan's fingertips.

The challenge today is no longer simply attracting fans. It is keeping them engaged year round.

The clubs that will thrive over the next decade are the ones that understand a simple reality, fans don't just want to watch the game anymore they want to be part of it.

2. f2o Sports was created a few years ago at Stanford University. Can you explain its origin and objectives?

Absolutely. Stanford Graduate School of Business is an incredibly diverse environment, bringing together people from around the world with different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. As students, you're constantly looking for ways to disconnect between classes, recharge, and connect with your classmates.

For many of us, that common ground was sports.

A group of us would regularly play football/soccer between classes, and those matches often turned into conversations about the power of sport as a global language. No matter where someone came from, what industry they worked in, or what language they spoke, sports had an incredible ability to bring people together.

As those conversations evolved, we found ourselves discussing fan engagement, emerging technologies, and the unique relationship between clubs and supporters. We kept coming back to one observation: while the business of sport has evolved dramatically, the relationship between owners and fans has remained largely unchanged for generations.

When we first began discussing what would eventually become f2o Sports, our focus wasn't blockchain or tokenization. Our focus was ownership. We wanted to explore whether technology could create a more inclusive relationship between clubs and the people who support them.

As the project evolved, we realized technologies such as AI and blockchain could provide the infrastructure needed to create entirely new models of participation. That led to our vision: a platform where fans can engage, participate, and ultimately move closer to ownership through a regulated and compliant framework.

At Stanford GSB, one of the principles that resonates deeply is: "Change lives. Change organizations. Change the world." Inspired by that mindset, several classmates and I, including Stefano Angeli, Michael Wright, and Andres Fleischer, set out to build what became f2o Sports.

Nearly five years later, our mission remains unchanged. Our goal is to bring supporters closer to the clubs they love by creating meaningful ways to engage, participate, and share in the journey of those organizations. Technology is simply the bridge that makes that possible.

When fans feel more connected, clubs become stronger. Communities become more engaged. New revenue opportunities emerge. And the bond between a club and its supporters, a bond that often spans generations, becomes even more powerful.

3. The tokenization process in sports has evolved significantly. What does f2o Sports bring to the table?

I think the sports industry learned some valuable lessons from the first wave of fan token projects.

Several years ago, tokenization generated tremendous excitement because it promised a new form of fan participation. The vision was compelling, but in many cases the experience didn't live up to the promise. Fans were often offered limited engagement opportunities rather than meaningful involvement, and many people struggled to understand how these new digital assets actually connected them to the clubs they supported.

At the same time, the broader crypto industry experienced significant volatility. For many consumers, words like "crypto" and "token" became associated with speculation rather than participation. As a result, a lot of people became skeptical of the underlying technology before it had the opportunity to fully mature.

The reality is that most fans don't wake up in the morning wanting to buy a token.

They want to feel closer to their club.

They want access, participation, influence, and a deeper connection to the organizations they support. That's why we believe the conversation should shift away from tokens and toward ownership.

What has changed over the last several years is that the regulatory environment has matured significantly. Frameworks such as MiCA in Europe are creating clearer rules, greater transparency, and stronger protections for participants. That allows companies like f2o Sports to build solutions in a way that is more structured, compliant, and sustainable.

At f2o Sports, we don't view tokenization as the product. We view it as the underlying technology that makes new forms of participation possible.

In fact, most fans don't need to understand the technology at all. Just as people use the internet every day without understanding how TCP/IP works, supporters shouldn't need to understand blockchain to benefit from it. What matters is the outcome.

Our goal is to help fans move closer to ownership while helping clubs build stronger communities, stronger engagement, and more sustainable revenue models. Technology is simply the bridge that connects those two objectives.

We are not trying to build a better fan token. We are trying to build a better relationship between clubs and their supporters where the future is fan ownership.

4. Recently, f2o Sports announced the acquisition of a minority stake in SC Vila Real. Why Portugal and what are the objectives?

Portugal represents one of the most attractive football markets in Europe.

The country has a rich football culture, a proven player development ecosystem, strong community based clubs, and an environment that remains highly attractive from an investment perspective. Our decision to invest in SC Vila Real was driven by much more than financial considerations. We were looking for a club with history, identity, passionate supporters, an attractive location for a potential global fanbase, and leadership willing to embrace innovation while preserving the traditions that make football special. Vila Real embodies those characteristics.

Our objective is never to change the soul or identity of a club, our objective is to help amplify it. One of the key ways we plan to do that is through the f2o “Fan Hub”, our proprietary fan engagement platform designed to bring supporters closer to the clubs they love. The Fan Hub creates a digital dashboard where fans can access exclusive content, participate in club related experiences, engage with sponsors and partners, purchase merchandise, and participate in club ownership and real club voting mechanisms.

That being said we focus on three primary areas where we make a difference:

1.)   Expanding the club's digital footprint and global fan reach. Through the f2o Fan Hub, a supporter in New York, Buenos Aires, Dubai, or Tokyo can discover and engage with Vila Real in ways that were previously impossible for many local community based clubs.

2.)   Create new revenue opportunities. The Fan Hub enables memberships, digital experiences, merchandise sales, sponsorship activations, and other fan driven initiatives such as gaming and predictions that help clubs diversify revenue beyond traditional matchday income.

3.)   Year round engagement! We want supporters to feel connected to the club's journey year round, not just on matchday. The Fan Hub allows fans to engage with the club, its content, and its community in a deeper and more meaningful way.

For us, our objective with Vila Real is not simply an investment, it's the first real world example of how the f2o and our digital platform, “Fan Hub", can strengthen the relationship between clubs and supporters while helping clubs build more sustainable, globally connected communities.

5. How do you envision the sports industry by 2030? What are the biggest opportunities and challenges?

I love this question because we're living through one of the most significant watershed moments in the history of sports.

By 2030, the clubs that win won't necessarily have the biggest stadiums or the biggest budgets. They'll have the strongest communities.

For decades, clubs primarily focused on local supporters, matchday revenues, and broadcast audiences. Over the next several years, we'll see a shift toward building year round global communities that engage with clubs every day, not just on matchdays.

To make that happen, clubs will increasingly operate like media companies. Content, storytelling, and community engagement will become just as important as what happens on the pitch. Supporters will expect more access, more interaction, and more personalized experiences.

Artificial intelligence will accelerate this transformation. AI will help clubs better understand their supporters, deliver more relevant content, improve customer experiences, and create deeper engagement at scale through fan data. Fans will receive experiences tailored specifically to their interests, behaviors, and level of involvement with the club.

At the same time, I believe we'll see the continued evolution of digital memberships, fan participation models, and new forms of ownership, f2o Sports is a prime example of this. Technology and regulation are creating opportunities that simply didn't exist a decade ago. Supporters will have more ways to engage with clubs, contribute to their growth, and become active participants in their communities.

However, the greatest challenge won't be technological. It will be maintaining trust, authenticity, and human connection in an increasingly digital world.

Fans don't fall in love with technology. They fall in love with clubs, players, traditions, and communities.

The organizations that thrive will be the ones that use technology to strengthen those emotional connections rather than replace them and broadcast them on a global scale and the clubs that don’t will wither away towards a very boring end.

For me, sports greatest asset has never been the stadium, the sponsorship, or the media rights. It's always been the fans and the future belongs to the clubs that understand how to empower their communities, embrace innovation responsibly, and bring supporters closer to the game than ever before.