AGAzucena Garanto
All case studies

Sport, operations, data, brand and community treated as one

Designing an organisation from zero as a single integrated system

Designed a multi-year model connecting sporting development, talent pathway, contracts, integrated data, brand identity, community and commercial cross-selling as a single system — recognised for governance, sporting results, social and communicative impact.

Football StrategyOrganisational DesignTalent DevelopmentBrand & Community
Photograph: women's first team celebrating a promotion.

Highlighted result

→6 teams · 3 consecutive promotions to the national Segunda RFEF · 2 further promotions with reserve and development teams · 3 Copa de la Reina qualifications · 8× budget growth

My role

SD Huesca wanted to develop women's football with no complete organisational structure, development pathway or sustainable operating model in place.

Context

The task was not to create a first team, but to build an integrated football organisation: recruiting and developing players, managing contracts, working with federations and institutions, building a brand and community, and growing sustainably over several seasons.

What I identified

A sustainable programme required sporting, organisational, communicative and commercial development to evolve together. Isolated teams without an integrated pathway, brand and community would produce activity, not a scalable structure.

What I did

I designed a multi-year model connecting grassroots and senior football, recruitment, contracts, operations, data, brand, communication and cross-selling with the men's fanbase — with disciplined use of small budgets to deliver high-ROI marketing and communication campaigns.

What I built

  • 01Six-team structure and grassroots-to-senior pathway
  • 02Recruitment, evaluation and squad-planning processes
  • 03Contract management, agent and federation relationships
  • 04Brand identity and local engagement
  • 05Regional and national positioning of the project
  • 06High-ROI marketing and communication campaigns on limited budgets
  • 07Cross-selling strategy with the men's team fanbase
  • 08Integrated Big Data ecosystem covering scouting, sporting direction, operations, player health, injury reduction and performance
  • 09Later adoption of the same data ecosystem by the men's first team and the women's academy
  • 10Applied-research ecosystem connecting universities, research groups and technology partners with the club's day-to-day operation, so that scientific knowledge translated into decisions on performance, health and injury prevention
  • 11Framework agreement with the University of Zaragoza's Huesca Campus enabling research projects, student placements and knowledge transfer across the section
  • 12Integral programme of technology, training and visibility approved under Universo Mujer (Spanish High Council for Sports) as institutional validation of the model
  • 13Progressive professionalisation model
  • Photograph: women's first team celebrating a promotion — detail 1.
  • Photograph: women's first team celebrating a promotion — detail 2.

Documentation

Outcome

  • Built six teams from zero; led the first team through three consecutive promotions to the national Segunda RFEF and earned two further promotions with the reserve and development teams; qualified the first team for the Copa de la Reina on three occasions.
  • Approximately 100 player signings and 300 contracts managed
  • Eightfold budget growth across seven seasons
  • 6,000 spectators at a fourth-tier women's match
  • Individual awards from the Sports Press Association of Huesca (2022) and the Aragonese Football Federation's Coaches Committee (Miguel Ángel Tolosana Trophy, 2023); Pajarita de Oro in Sports (2023) awarded to the section
  • Selected as one of three women representing Spain in EQUALISM, a European Erasmus+ Sport project led by the University of Zaragoza on equal opportunities in sport management

What this demonstrates

That a football organisation can be built from zero when sporting, organisational, communicative and commercial development are treated as a single integrated system.

Related areas of expertise

Connect about this work

Connect

Related recognition

  • 2022Best Directive — Province of HuescaIndividual recognition voted by members of the Huesca Sports Press Association for leading SD Huesca's women's football section.Official announcement
  • 2023Miguel Ángel Tolosana TrophyAwarded by the Aragonese Coaches Committee for the trajectory leading SD Huesca's women's football section.Coverage
  • 2024EQUALISM — Selected National Reference (Erasmus+ Sport)Selected as one of three women representing Spain in EQUALISM, a European project on equal opportunities in sport management led by the University of Zaragoza and funded by the European Commission.Project note
  • 2024Pajarita de Oro — Sports CategoryCollective recognition to SD Huesca's women's football section, received and represented as its director.Coverage
  • 2021Premio al Impulso — Women and Sport GalaRecognition to SD Huesca's women's football project for its growth and impact on women's sport.

Other case studies