Sports & Championship

In a bold move to redefine fan engagement and modernize football experiences, Al-Nassr Club Company, one of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent football clubs, has partnered with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to transform its stadium and facilities into a smart digital sports campus.

This ambitious project leverages HPE Aruba Networking to build a high-performance, secure, and scalable digital infrastructure that will enhance every aspect of the club’s operations — from media and training to medical facilities and retail — and, most importantly, the fan experience.

A New Era of Digital Fan Engagement

With a growing global fan base exceeding 60 million, Al-Nassr recognizes that most supporters experience the club virtually. To better serve these fans, the club is embracing digital-first engagement, offering behind-the-scenes content, exclusive access to players, and immersive experiences both in-stadium and online.

The club's IT team manages digital access for over 20 buildings, including training centers, warehouses, and retail stores. With HPE Aruba Networking Central, CX switches, EdgeConnect SD-WAN, and Wi-Fi 7 access points, the infrastructure ensures high-speed connectivity, seamless content delivery, and robust cybersecurity.

“We always have a minimum of 300–400 people connected on quiet days, but on match days that number spikes to over 10,000,” said Faisal Khan, Director of IT at Al-Nassr. “With HPE Aruba Networking, we can now scale bandwidth, assign user access, and resolve connectivity issues quickly – enhancing our fan content and match-day operations.”

Key Highlights of the Deployment:

• End-to-end wireless-first infrastructure to support daily media production, live match streaming, and player tracking

• EdgeConnect SD-WAN ensures high availability by combining multiple connections and maximizing bandwidth

• Smart data management for biometric security of players and staff

• In-stadium content streaming, enabling fans to view live feeds and exclusive content on their smartphones

A Vision for the Future

As Al-Nassr expands its digital and physical footprint, the club is setting a benchmark in how football and technology intersect. From scaling video production to enabling IoT innovation, the smart sports campus enhances fan experiences while enabling the club to monetize content and data more effectively.

“By building a smart campus on HPE Aruba Networking, Al-Nassr has unified and streamlined its network operations,” said Jamil Ahmad, Country Business Lead for HPE Aruba Networking, Saudi Arabia. “It has maximized content opportunities and simplified deployment of IoT capabilities that redefine how fans interact with the club.”

This partnership places Al-Nassr at the forefront of sports digitization in the Kingdom and strengthens its position as a global football brand with an emphasis on innovation, connectivity, and fan-centricity.

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