Staff Reporter
With sports schedules more hectic and liable to change than ever before, it can often be difficult for fans to keep up, especially if you live in a foreign land.
However, the online world pivots quickly these days in order to meet the demand of consumers and because of this there are some new and exciting platforms which are taking sports news and updates to a whole new level.
Here are just some of the apps and websites you need to have downloaded or saved in your favourites in time for new seasons and tournaments kicking off.
The Athletic Continues to Make Waves
There are few sports journalism platforms that have stirred the pot quite as much as The Athletic has over the last couple of years, with its subscription service blending old-school journalistic credibility – that comes at a price – with new-school web and mobile design.
The platform sprang up in Silicon Valley and has big money backers who have openly stated that they want to turn it into the Netflix of sports news content.
The Athletic started life mainly focusing on creating highly localised content for American sports leagues such as the NBA and NFL. It then began making moves in the UK in 2019 and is now rolling out its specialised service in a bid to capture fans who are willing to pay to ditch low quality user generated content or rushed and lazy print content, in exchange for stories that talk directly to them.
As far as we can see their formula appears to be working, but only time will tell.
Blogs Bore Down into the Detail
Many of the reasons that fans will not always flock to a service like The Athletic is that they realise it is masquerading as a local provider of quality sports info, whereas there are plenty of free fan-run blogs that already do that job really well.
Some of the best of these are the ones that home in on a particular team, or a niche sport.
The Daily Cannon is just one of these such blogs, with its team of Arsenal fanatics focusing on everything that goes down at the Emirates.
Another excellent resource for more general footballing updates and information is the ever-popular Caught Offside blog.
Meanwhile, for keeping up with sports fixtures, as leagues and teams constantly rejig their schedules, there are other blogs that give a perfect lowdown of what sport is on today and for the rest of the week ahead.
Feedly Sorts the Wheat from the Chaff
Have you ever gone online and wondered just who the hell algorithms think you are, as you are bombarded with content suggestions that bear no relation to your interests?
Well, Feedly is an app that is built especially for you, to allow you to fine-tune what you see and when you see it. Think of it being like a good bookseller, who has an innate skill for leading you to that perfect novel.
Spanish Sports News in English
Of course if you are an expat on the hunt for La Liga or Euroleague news but aren’t quite up to scratch with your Spanish language skills, then The Olive Press is just the site for you.
FotMob Keeps You Abreast as Nets Bulge Worldwide
These days it is not enough for football fans to just know what is going on with their own team, with plenty wanting to remain updated on leagues as far afield as Australia and China, especially if they have some money riding on the results.
FotMob is the ideal app for such football fans, running real-time score updates and combining them with a plethora of stats and match previews.
Whichever sport you follow, most of the sources above will make you the go-to man in your friend group for sporting knowledge.
