Success Story DFB
The Club Advisors Community
Pioneering Work at the DFB
What began as an idea at the edubreak® event in Leipzig in 2023 is now a pioneering project in German soccer: the German Soccer Association’s (DFB) club advisor community. Through targeted networking on our edubreak®COMMUNITY platform, what started as a loose network has become a digital hub for genuine exchange of experiences and peer advice.
How 100 Individuals Became a Thriving Community
Creating a digital space to complement the soccer field
The challenge was clear: While about 100 Club advisors across Germany knew each other from annual events, they lacked a central hub for quickly sharing knowledge in their day-to-day work. With the launch of the Club Advisors Community in the fall of 2024, the occasional in-person meetings were transformed into a digital space for deeper exchange.
Ghostthinker's Role as a Sparring Partner
To ensure the launch was as structured as possible, Ghostthinker supported the process on three levels:
- Strategic: A workshop to set goals and define the roadmap.
- Didactic: An introductory course at the edubreak®ACADEMY to ensure a smooth start.
- Operational: Five support workshops in the first year, as well as regular discussion sessions for community managers.
Community Building
From Consumption to Active Participation
Especially in the beginning, it’s important for the community manager to provide a lot of content and inspiration. New members first need to feel comfortable using the platform before they become active on their own. The consistent onboarding process was certainly helpful here: Community members weren’t left to fend for themselves, but were guided step by step—with time, space, and a personal introduction to the platform.
The result: After about 1.5 years of intensive support, user behavior has shifted. Today, members no longer just “consume” content—they create it. More than half of all posts now come directly from the club advisors themselves.
What a vibrant online community really needs
- Personalized Onboarding: Time and space to welcome each new member.
- Active Management: Ongoing engagement driven by the community manager.
- Centralization: Clear references to the community as the “single point of truth.”
- Interactive Formats: Online meetups for in-depth professional discussion.
- Shared Leadership: Involving supporters as group managers.
Lessons Learned & Outlook
Community Management & Moderation
A key lesson learned from our experience so far is that regular input and active facilitation are necessary to encourage participation and dialogue. The hope that everything would develop on its own over the long term has so far only been realized in phases. Nevertheless, the DFB looks back on its experience to date very positively and is satisfied with the current status.
The key lesson: Sustainable networking doesn’t require perfection from day one, but rather an open attitude toward experimentation. The crucial question has always been: “How does the community make the day-to-day work of the on-site consultants easier?” The result is a noticeable reduction in workload and a new level of collaboration within the DFB.
Accessible Exchange
Looking ahead, the DFB plans to make targeted use of the edubreak®COMMUNITY to further strengthen professional exchange through social video learning.
The following initiatives will be pursued:
- Use of videos as a central element to stimulate discussions and facilitate practical knowledge transfer.
- Creation of an open, low-barrier environment for easy exchange among club advisors.
- Collaborative exploration and further development of specific topics in groups to promote mutual learning and the development of sustainable solutions for club work.
- Parallel input from moderators to ensure the project’s ongoing development.
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