Russell Stopford

Russell leads the strategy and execution for FC Barcelona’s digital products and channels serving to connect its global fanbase. This includes the largest social media audience of any sports club in the world and platforms including mobile, web, apps, games, e-commerce, VR/AR and messaging.

Prior to that he was Product Development Director of Perform Media (the D2C division of Perform Group), a leading global sports business creating market leading sports apps and sites in several countries including Goal.com – the world’s largest digital football brand (40 international editions, serving around 1.4 billion pages per month to 70 million unique users). Before that he was Head of Digital at Manchester City Football Club where he was responsible for all digital products and City TV. During his time at City they achieved a number of firsts and awards for the club (including #1 in Twitter’s official Premier League table and “Best Website” at the Sports Industry Awards).

In his 20 years of experience in digital media, film and TV he has delivered high-profile projects involving A-list talent, celebrities, world-famous brands, publishers, broadcasters and digital businesses.
Russell has an academic background in science and technology (Physics at Oxford and AI at Edinburgh Universities) and is a multi-award winning creative (including BAFTA and Peabody Awards). He has C-level, board and director level experience in rapid growth start-ups, FTSE 250, VC and private equity backed companies.