This year we have had 130 attendees from 11 different countries across 8 different sports. The idea of the Operations Summit is to give people the opportunity to network with one another, learn from one another from an operational perspective, and hear from all the fantastic guest speakers we’ve had here today
George WellsDirector, Customer Success at Teamworks
Operations Summit London 2026
At one of football’s most iconic venues, Craven Cottage, home of Fulham FC, Teamworks brought together sports operations professionals from across Europe and beyond for this year’s annual Teamworks Operations Summit. Set against the backdrop of the banks of the Thames, the day was packed with product deep-dives, candid panel discussions, and the kind of peer-to-peer learning that only happens when the best minds in sports operations are in the same room.
I’m taking a lot of things back home to Spain. I’m getting a lot of learnings and a lot of features that we can implement
Borja Barreras VillarrealAcademy Residence Training and Development Manager
The day kicked off with a welcome from Gareth Quinn, General Manager of EMEA at Teamworks and Nicola McCarthy of BBC Sport who set the tone for what would be a full and energising agenda.
Donovan Bass, Director of Product – Operations, took attendees through our Teamworks’ origin story — rooted in the world of collegiate American Football back in 2006 — and showed just how far Hub has come. Today, with 20 years of experience and growth, Teamworks Hub has become the standard for elite teams across the globe.
Donovan also unveiled a raft of new product features and teased the exciting new features coming soon to Teamworks Hub.
Operations: The Athlete’s Perspective
Andrew Trimble, Senior Director of Athlete Performance at Teamworks and former Ireland rugby international, was joined by Rory Best, General Manager of Ulster Rugby and Ireland’s most-capped hooker, for a compelling conversation on what great operations actually means from an athlete’s point of view. The session explored how the experience of being a professional player is shaped by the quality of information and communication flowing from the operations team — and what the best clubs in the world do differently.
Delivering Excellence in Sports Operations
Teamworks’ Commercial Director for EMEA, Conor Branson, moderated a superb panel featuring three highly experienced practitioners:
- Louise Dobson, Head of 1st Team Operations, Liverpool FC
- Bas Roorda, Team Manager, PSV Eindhoven
- Dustin Haloschan, 1st Team Ops Coordinator, SV Werder Bremen
The discussion surfaced themes of trust, communication, and the importance of being the glue that holds a club’s many moving parts together.
Break-out Sessions and Discussions
Attendees split into three breakout groups for hands-on discussion. Facilitators included Neil Hunter and Jim Turrell (Manchester City), Max Ashmore (Rangers FC), and Conor O’Rawe (Arsenal FC), showcasing how they use Teamworks Hub to simplify travel and onboarding processes, and improve communication through Digital Displays across their facilities.
With 130 attendees across the three groups, the breakouts generated rich conversation about real-world challenges and practical solutions.
Afternoon Sessions
The afternoon brought two more high-quality panel discussions.
A Unified Mobile Experience saw Robin Eager (Teamworks Customer Success Manager) and Jo Tyler, Head of Rugby Operations at Harlequins FC, explore the practical realities of driving platform adoption across a squad — and what a truly unified mobile app will mean for clubs.
The Role of Player Care and Operations featured a thoughtful conversation moderated by Andrew Trimble, with Giacomo Marconi (Player Care Manager, AC Milan) and Thomas Evans (Head of Player Care, Crystal Palace) exploring how the player care and operations functions intersect, complement, and sometimes overlap — and how the biggest challenges in the modern game are as much human as they are logistical.
The Long Game: Career Progression in Operations
The final session of the day was perhaps the most personal. Gareth Quinn was joined by Paul Mullen, Chief Operating Officer of Brighton and Hove Albion, for a frank and inspiring conversation about building a career in sports operations. From early roles to the boardroom, the discussion offered a rare look at the long arc of professional growth in one of sport’s most demanding and rewarding disciplines.
Conor Branson and Nicola McCarthy brought the day to a close with a message that echoed throughout the entire summit: the people working behind the scenes in sports operations are not just administrators — they are architects of team success. As Teamworks continues to build the infrastructure that powers elite sport, our Operations Summit is a reminder that the community around that mission is just as important as the technology itself.
