On Tuesday night, Brøndby IF knocked AB out of the cup in front of a record crowd at Gladsaxe. The scoreboard read 2-1 to the visitors. But AB's app told a very different story: 50% more users. Here is how a sponsor, 2,000 scarves and a single voucher turned a cup night into one of the smartest fan engagement campaigns we have seen this season.

By Martin Svensson

(The scarf everyone wanted. Made for one match only, with the fixture and the date knitted right into it.)

Some nights in Danish football are bigger than the result. Tuesday in Gladsaxe was one of them.

10,754 spectators squeezed into Gladsaxe Stadion for the last 16 of the DBU Pokalen. The stadium record from 2004 was gone. Around 6,000 of the crowd had made the trip from Brøndby, and the stadium staff were working flat out to get everyone inside before kick-off.

Brøndby won 2-1 and are through to the quarterfinals. Fair enough. But if you ask us, the most interesting result of the night had been settled days before anyone stepped onto the grass. Not on the pitch, but on fans' phones.

The sponsor pays for the scarf

Together with the club, the sponsor (Myriad360, AB's official technology partner) produced 2,000 special green and white scarves for the match. Each one had the fixture and the date, 27.10.2026, knitted into it and at the end of each scarf sits the Myriad360 logo. Instead of a few seconds on an LED board that nobody remembers, the brand was worn around the necks of 2,000 fans on a record night. And it will be back at the next match, and the one after that.

(Myriad360's logo on the end of every scarf. A sponsor placement fans want to wear.)

The fans get a memory from the match

You could not buy this scarf. Not online, not in the fan shop, not at the gate.

It was made for one match only, against one of the biggest names in Danish football, on the biggest night of AB's season so far. That turns a piece of merchandise into a souvenir. The kind of thing you keep, wear again and one day hang on the wall.

And there were only 2,000 of them. You can probably guess what that did for demand.

The app is the key

The scarves were not handed out at the turnstiles and there was one way to get one: Download the AB1889 app, create a user and collect a voucher. Then turn up at the AB fan zone when it opened on matchday, redeem the voucher and walk away with the scarf.

No app, no scarf. Creating a user was the ticket.

(Download, sign up, collect. Three steps between the fans and the scarf.)

The payoff: 50% more app users

+50% growth in AB's total number of app users after one campaign, built around a single match.

After the campaign, AB's total number of app users had grown by 50%. Half as many fans again, signed up around one single match. The sponsor covered the scarves, and the fans did the rest.

Of course, a record crowd and a cup tie against Brøndby was a golden opportunity, and AB grabbed it with both hands. But it is just one example of many. A derby, a season opener, a farewell to a club legend or the launch of a new sponsor can all be used the same way. And the scarf could just as well be a signed shirt, a meet-and-greet with the players or a seat upgrade. What matters is the principle: Give fans something they genuinely want and make the app the way to get it.

Where the real fan engagement begins

A scarf is handed out once, but an app user stays. Every new user is a fan AB can now reach directly, without paying for reach or relying on a social media algorithm. The club can tell them about the next home game, new merchandise and sponsor offers, reward them with loyalty points for coming back, and learn over time what gets them through the gate.

What AB takes home from Tuesday night

AB went out of the cup on Tuesday, but the club walks away with a stadium record, a night the fans will talk about for years, and 50% more users in the app.

The recipe is simple enough for any club to copy. Pick a match your fans already care about. Get a sponsor to back something fans genuinely want to keep. Make the app the only way to get it. Keep the steps simple and the numbers limited. And have your next message ready before the new users arrive.

Want to run a campaign like this in your club's app?

Get in touch with Sportsinnovation at sales@sportsinnovation.dk

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