Use case : Union Bordeaux Bègles

Union Bordeaux Bègles: Using SSO as the Foundation to Structure Fan Relationships

With the launch of its Single Sign-On, UBB is laying the groundwork for a unified digital ecosystem, one that offers fans a seamless experience while strengthening the club’s CRM strategy.

Use case UBB SSO

Top14 finalist in 2024 and 2025, winner of the Champions Cup in 2025, and once again in the final to defend its European title in 2026, Union Bordeaux Bègles (UBB) is a major club in French professional rugby.

A club of this scale operates in an environment where the fan relationship is no longer limited to match days.
Ticketing, the official shop, mobile applications, digital content, and the loyalty program: contact points are multiplying,
each contributing in its own way to the fan experience within the club digital ecosystem.

However, this digital richness also creates a strategic challenge: how to recognize the same supporter from one service to another?
How to prevent fragmented accounts, journeys, and data? And above all, how can every interaction be transformed into actionable knowledge to better engage, retain, and develop the relationship with the club's audiences?

It is in this context that UBB launched its Single Sign-On with Arenametrix on April 14, 2026.
This project was a long-term undertaking, following nearly two years of collaborative work on the club's CRM and data structuring. Single Sign-On, or SSO, allows a fan to access multiple digital services with a single account and a single login.
For a sports club, it also becomes a way to link journeys, improve profile reliability, and structure a unique fan identity.

Read our dedicated article on SSO

From day one, adoption was immediate: 10,000 connections. More than a technical launch, this deployment marks a structural milestone in building a coherent digital ecosystem centered on the fan's identity.

How to move from a fragmented digital ecosystem to a unified fan relationship?

For a professional club like UBB, the multiplication of digital services is an opportunity, but it can also create dispersion.
A fan might buy a ticket, order a product from the shop, diligently read the newsletter, or interact with the app without being recognized as one and the same person.

This fragmentation limits the quality of the fan experience and hinders the club's ability to understand its audiences precisely.
Data can be incomplete, duplicated, or difficult to use within a CRM strategy.

The challenge was clear: to allow supporters to access all club services more easily, while providing UBB with a more reliable identity base to structure its fan knowledge. SSO directly addresses this issue: it becomes both a single point of entry for fans and a backbone for the club's data strategy.

How UBB and Arenametrix built a unified fan identity across the club ecosystem?   

UBB's SSO project is part of a fundamental process undertaken with Arenametrix regarding the club's CRM, data, and digital ecosystem. The objective was not simply to add another technical brick, but to create the conditions for a more coherent and actionable fan relationship. To achieve this, Single Sign-On centralizes authentication around a unique identifier, capable of gradually linking the club's various contact points.

In practical terms, this approach addresses several structural challenges:

  • Reconciling data from different services, including ticketing, the online  shop, the mobile app, and digital content.

  • Improving the reliability of fan profiles through active email addresses and information updated during login.

  • Limiting duplicates, often created by the multiplication of accounts and platforms.

  • Collecting or renewing consents at the source, within a clear, dated, and traceable GDPR framework.

  • Making the database actionable, by relying on identified and enriched profiles from the very first interactions.

This logic transforms SSO into a full-fledged CRM lever. Every connection becomes a moment of requalification. Every recognized profile becomes more reliable data. Every digital use contributes to a better understanding of the supporter.

As Alexis Jablonski, Head of Customer Success Sport at Arenametrix, summarizes : “When fans know they are recognized across the club’s ecosystem, they engage more. And stronger engagement drives long-term club growth..”

Activation: Building an Actionable Database from Day One

The launch on April 14, 2026, immediately demonstrated the project's impact. During the first day alone, UBB recorded 10,000 connections. These figures do not just reflect rapid adoption by fans. They also show that SSO produces CRM value as soon as it is activated: in a single day, the club has a significant initial volume of active profiles, requalified through use and ready to be integrated into its next relational actions.

This dynamic is particularly important as it avoids making database requalification a separate task. The supporter logs in to access club services easily; simultaneously, UBB improves the quality of its fan knowledge. From Day 1, the club can prepare its future CRM actions: season pass campaign reminders, reactivation campaigns, segmentation of target audiences for partners, or personalized communications based on observed behaviors.

This launch is also part of a broader trend in French professional rugby: 9 Top 14 clubs (French rugby top division) are using Arenametrix CRM, and UBB becomes the second Top 14 club to deploy SSO with Arenametrix, following Rugby Club Toulonnais (use case).

A transformation built over time

The launch of UBB's SSO was not limited to a technical deployment.
It relies on nearly two years of collaborative work on the club's CRM and data structuring.

A clear vision from the club
Marilou Gaudillere and Jean-Baptiste Machenaud led the project with consistency, high standards, and a clear long-term vision for the club’s supporter relationship.

An infrastructure designed for professional sport clubs
The project is part of a CRM ecosystem designed to meet the specific needs of clubs: seasonal cycles, ticketing, fan engagement, segmentation, and marketing activation.


With this launch, Union Bordeaux Bègles is not closing a digital project; it is opening a new stage in its CRM maturity.
SSO becomes the foundation upon which the club can now enrich its supporter knowledge, activate more targeted journeys, and gradually evolve its digital ecosystem around a better-structured fan identity.