Partnerships in football are forged in shared goals, value from both parties, and most importantly, trust.
That’s why Southampton Football Club chose Acronis to become its official cybersecurity partner in 2020, and after five years, the partnership continues to solidify itself as an agreement based on trust and security when fending off various cyber attacks.
Insider Sport spoke to Tom Barrett, Head of Partnerships at Southampton FC, and Natalie Shearer, Head of Commercial Sports Partnerships Europe at Acronis, to reveal how the partnership has leveraged advanced cybersecurity solutions to help Southampton perform on-and-off the pitch.
Barrett and Shearer also explain the importance of building a secure cybersecurity network that covers all verticals in order to protect employees and fans of the club, while also being able to provide ease of mind for future revenue-driving deals.
Tom Barrett, Head of Partnerships at Southampton FC
Insider Sport: What can be some of the most damaging side effects of cyber-attacks to a football club’s digital database?
“I see cyber risk not as an IT issue but as a competitive, commercial and reputational one. For a club of our size, a breach would be particularly damaging, inviting headlines that distract the football side and unsettle commercial relationships.
“There’s also the operational impact. If we can’t recover systems quickly when needed, revenues and our relationship with supporters suffer – and so could our performance on the pitch. Football is dynamic, our coaches and medical staff need fresh data to make the right calls as they can’t make effective decisions with out-of-date information. Any corruption or loss of integrity immediately weakens our decision making.
“Our match days are also data-driven. We use analytics to reduce kiosk queues, improve retail and enhance the experience for our 32,000 fans at St Mary’s. Disrupting that visibility undermines fan satisfaction and ultimately our revenue.”
Insider Sport: With sophisticated data now being essential for player transfers, scouting, etc., at football clubs, what are some of the provisions Southampton have in place to negate potential hacks of this sensitive data?
“We operate a managed, layered model with Tailor Made Technologies using Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud to back up and protect club data. Our protected estate explicitly includes player health, fitness and performance data as well as customer, marketing and sales data, and other workloads.
“We design around integrity and availability which means data must always be updated and accessible under any circumstances, with access limited so only relevant personnel can reach the right data when they need it.”
Insider Sport: What are some of the day-to-day activities Southampton’s IT-team run in order to maintain a secure digital framework and detecting cyber threats?
“On a daily basis, our priority is ensuring continuous backup and recovery readiness, with regular monitoring and validation of data integrity. We also run proactive security checks and testing of restore processes, so if an issue arises, from accidental data loss to a malicious attack, we can recover quickly and minimise disruption to football operations.”
Natalie Shearer, Head of Commercial Sports Partnerships Europe at Acronis
Insider Sport: How imperative is it for sporting clubs to have secure and sufficient cybersecurity processes in place before cyber-attacks take place?
“It’s imperative that every organisation, including sports clubs, evaluate every possible attack vector that could be exploited by a cyber attacker. For elite sports clubs, every detail matters. Whether it’s player GPS data, opposition analysis or commercial systems that drive match-day revenue, the club depends on that data and information being secure and always available.”
“Southampton FC manages over 21,000 GB of data and more than 600 Microsoft 365 accounts. Without strong data and cyber protections, even a short disruption could affect how players prepare, how the coaching team makes decisions, or how fans experience the club. You can’t afford to wait for something to go wrong. Regular backups of systems are a key to avoiding data availability issues such as data corruption and disk failure, and can mitigate threats such as ransomware, giving the club confidence that if anything is lost, recovery can be immediate.”
Insider Sport: Could you highlight some of the solutions Acronis has implemented into Southampton’s cybersecurity framework since your partnership began?
“Southampton FC rely on local managed service provider Tailor Made Technologies to backup and protect the club’s data using Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud, ensuring reliable data recovery and business continuity for the club. For example, if critical training data becomes corrupted, backups guarantee it can be restored in minutes, so the coaching staff never lose valuable insights.
“Crucially, this approach is tailored to the realities of elite sport, where data protection and integrity are essential. It’s not just about protecting laptops, it’s about making sure the right performance data gets to the coaching team in time for match day, that player wellness files are secure but accessible to authorised users when needed, or recovery from a potential breach minimises club and fan disruption. The partnership brings together global cyber expertise and local, hands-on support, so The Saints can focus on football without distractions.”
Insider Sport: Has the rise of AI-powered ransomware caused even more cybersecurity issues for clubs like Southampton, and how has Acronis been able to mitigate this in real-time?
“Attackers are using AI to make their methods more sophisticated, which makes it crucial that the club’s data can always be recovered. Even if ransomware encrypts files, clean backups mean we can restore systems within minutes and keep operations running. That reliability is vital in modern football when many decisions depend on data being available when needed.
Insider Sport: What more can sports organisations and Managed Service Providers do to build out their relationships when it comes to finding new ways to prevent cyber-attacks in the future?
“Football clubs thrive when everyone around them works as a team and cybersecurity is no different. We’re not just running software in the background. We’re supporting ongoing education for club staff, running real-world cyber drills like you would do with player training, and proactively adapting protections based on threats seen across our global sports partnerships.
“Where fans expect a good match-day experience and where data drives decisions from the academy to the first team, that joined-up defence makes a real difference. It’s not just about technology but it’s about supporting football operations from backroom to the boardroom. Regular touchpoints and transparent communications keep everyone proactive, active and reactive when and how it matters.”
