Clash of the Clubs III opens new phase of DNA development
30 January 2025

Last September’s successful European DNA U20 Clubs, the Clash of the Clubs III, confirmed the enthusiasm generated by European Athletics’ Dynamic New Athletics competition format, especially among young rising stars and grassroots athletes, and sets the stage for realising more of the possibilities the pioneering concept offers the sport.

In the weeks following the event in Pombal, Portugal, extensive positive feedback was collected through surveys and interviews from participants and many key players in the development and delivery of DNA, allowing for an assessment of where the project stands five years after its launch and providing an impulse for wherever it might go in the future.

A Turning Point

Originally inspired by market research in 2017 showing how 21st century young people – athletes and non-athletes, fans and non-fans – viewed athletics, what they liked about the sport and how they wanted to see it presented, the DNA concept was one of the most innovative outputs of the late European Athletics president Svein Arne Hansen’s “Leading Change” agenda.

Top international technical official Frank Hamm from Germany, a member of the original working group comprising active athletes as well as experts from the sport and the entertainment industry that was tasked with creating DNA, explains that the rollout since the 2019 launch at European Games in Minsk has been a time of testing and exploration, which included the three editions of the Clash of the Clubs as well as showcase events for national senior and U20 teams.

“The basic format has been used successfully in many different situations – outdoors and indoors, national teams and club teams, senior athletes and younger age groups, even down to school competitions,” said Hamm, who currently supervises the competition aspects at European Athletics’ international DNA events.

“We’ve gained a lot of experience delivering the showcase events and the experimentation at the national and local levels has given us a much better understanding of the potential everyone thought was there in terms of competition, communications and development of the sport.

“I think that now we’ve turned a corner and the project is coming into a new phase.”

Backing up Hamm’s words, broadcast host and producer Andy Kay of Great Britain added that European Athletics should take pride in DNA’s success to date and the influence it has had on the sport.

“More than five years ago the concept manifested some pretty bold ideas for athletics, but as time passes we see World Athletics and investors around the world adopting key features of DNA, like the compact, linear programme highlighting one event at a time, the meaningful team score, the mixed gender relays and the modification of certain rules,” he said, citing recent high-profile initiatives like Grand Slam Track, the ATHLOS NYC event and the Fribourg Track Lab

“The important thing we have learned about DNA is that when audiences, whether new to the sport or more experienced, see that each two or two and a half hour match tells a fast-paced, coherent and interesting story they tend to like it.”

“There is also plenty of evidence from the U20 events and what is happening at the national level that the concept is popular with younger athletes, which has got be considered when the sport is addressing the issues of expanding participation and the dropout rate of teenagers.”

“The experience of travelling abroad together and each athlete knowing that the DNA format makes their individual effort really important was great for team building, regardless of the result.“

Diego Marcano – Sparta Atletik og Løb
Team Leader and Coach
Club Instagram (@spartaatletik) followers: 2,971

The Pombal Experience

Like the previous two editions, the Clash of the Clubs III, saw 12 teams of U20 club athletes from 11 countries compete at the clubs’ expense in a four-match tournament over a late-season weekend (the host country is allocated spots for two teams).

To date, a total of 23 different teams from 15 countries have taken part in the Clash at least once, with eight federations entering teams for all three editions and a further two sending teams twice.

sparta atletik win clash of clubs iii

At an ideal six-lane venue under warm, sunny skies, Sparta Atletik og Løb from Denmark, racked up 100 points in the first ten disciplines of the A Final to give their relay team a six second head start in the match-determining final event, the Hunt. In an exciting race it held on to just edge out Spain’s Club Atletismo Playas de Castellón for the overall win, reversing the order of the previous year’s top two. Third place went to AK Skoda Plzen of Czechia.

Earlier in the day, the athletes from the combined clubs of Italy’s Team Lazio won the B Final over another combined-clubs team from North Norway with SK Elite of Estonia in third.

Among the strongest impressions from the weekend were the tangible esprit de corps of the competitors, the all-out efforts to gain every available point and the joyous post-event celebrations reminiscent of a major football tournament.

Kay, who was present in Pombal managing the production of the live stream for the tournament, said, “it’s clear that for the under 20’s this has become a very special competition with a unique atmosphere.”

“Where else in our sport would you see six teams of athletes, from different countries, celebrating and dancing and swapping t-shirts and competition kit on the infield for more than 30 minutes after the last race?”

“The best thing was to go on to the infield to cheer for our team in the Hunt. Everyone likes being part of a team and the atmosphere in our club was wonderful. I really love the DNA competition, it’s different and it’s fun to do.“

Marleen, Ritari, 17 – SK Elite
1st in the B Final 100 Metres Hurdles
Personal Instagram (@marleen_ritari) followers: 1,242

Participant feedback from the top to the bottom of the event’s result table was more than upbeat.

Responding to an informal questionnaire from the organising officials, nine of ten team leaders reviewed the DNA concept positively, one commenting “all my team (athletes, coaches and I) were very satisfied with this competition, if not by our results” and another adding “we have to have more competitions like DNA, it is a very motivating concept for the athletes.”

European Athletics’ official online survey of participants (athletes, coaches and team support personnel) confirmed that respondents were satisfied with their experience, with 96% agreeing or strongly agreeing with the statement “My overall impression of the DNA event and how it was presented is positive”. This is consistent with responses to the same question on surveys after the previous two editions of the Clash.

Asked to rate elements of the event that were particularly interesting for them on a 1 to 10 scale (10 being most interesting), 90% or more of the respondents indicated eight or higher for “Team spirit of the athletes”, “Focus on one event at a time” and “Men and women competing together”.

Also receiving strong positive reactions were “Team battle” and “On-field involvement of coaches”, both receiving marks of eight or more from 88% of the respondents.

“All the teams were happy, you could see it in their faces,” says DNA Project Manager José Luis de Carlos, a former European Athletics vice-president, “and I am sure most of the coaches, even those who might have been sceptical about the DNA competition format, understand the value of the event.”

“When coaches see happy athletes they are happy too.”

“Being on the infield during the competition gives the coaches an enhanced role, which is very interesting. Also, the focus on one event at a time means that all the events get the same amount of attention, the athletes feel they are important and they can learn about what the others are doing.“

Sinéad McGoldrick – Ratoath AC
Team Leader and Coach
Club Instagram (@ratoathathleticclub) followers: 1,544

Competition Programme

In recent years a number of sports, including volleyball, rugby, basketball and cricket, have introduced modified, normally more compact, competition formats designed to appeal to new media audiences and younger participants. But successfully adding new elements to any sport, especially one as resolutely traditional as athletics, calls for clear communication of the “why” and a sustained dialogue with the sport’s community to address questions, concerns and suggestions that may arise.

With this in mind, European Athletics’ five-year rollout of DNA has featured a dedicated website, in-person workshops for coaches and team leaders, an online Teams Athletics Conference in 2022 that was open to all and regular surveys of both Member Federations leaders and, of course, the participants.

clash of the clubs iii team lazio celebrate

The feedback collected through the official survey following this year’s Clash confirmed the trend of increasing interest in key competition features of DNA and can be seen to have particular significance as many Pombal participants were returning to the event for a second or even third time and therefore have had multiple experiences with the format and ample opportunity to reflect.

For example, the percentage of respondents indicating their interest in the winner-take-all aspect of the Hunt with an eight or more on the one to 10 scale grew to 68% this year, up from 60% in 2023 and 58% in 2022, while those expressing low interest with a three or less on the scale decreased to 7% from 24% in 2023 and 16% in 2022.

“All my teammates and I are really happy with the experience. DNA can’t replace the regular format for the top athletes but it is a fun way to compete and a good motivation for everyone.“

João Fernandes, 19 – Sporting Clube de Portugal
1st in the A Final Javelin
Personal Instagram (@joao_efernandes) followers: 2,570

With regard to the head-to-head format of the field events, the percentage of eight or higher responses ticked up to 75% from 62% in 2023 and 70% in 2022 while those expressing negative feelings shrank to 7% from 14% in 2023 and 2022.

Less clear, however, is the opinion trend for the high jump, where the competitors in the head-to-head duels must select a height without knowing what their opponent has chosen for a single, make or break attempt. The percentage of respondents indicating low interest in the high jump decreased to 8% this year from 19% in 2023 and 16% in 2022 but those indicating high interest, with marks of eight or more, also decreased slightly to 66% from 70% in 2022.

Ideas for modifications to the DNA programme received in this year’s survey included suggestions for different disciplines or switching certain disciplines to the opposite gender, both of which are already possible according to Frank Hamm.

“We flipped the gender of all four field events in Pombal from what they were at the 2023 Clash in Rome and substituting disciplines that have similar facility and time requirements, like the triple jump for the long jump or the discus for the javelin, is simply a matter of the organiser’s choice,” he said.

“Based on the feedback received, we are in discussions to see if we can make improvements to the Clash and other showcase events from the points of view of the competitors and the audience. For example, perhaps there could be changes to the length of the legs in the Hunt or a longer middle distance race.”

For Hamm, flexibility is fundamental to the DNA concept and it is expected that organisers at all levels will experiment with different aspects while adhering to some basic principles like a compact programme and gender balance.

“The programme for DNA matches is meant to always be a work in progress that can and should be adjusted to suit different circumstances and needs,” he said.

“The head-to-head format for my event is very different and it was a little stressful at the start because there is really no second or third chance if you make a mistake. But the experience taught me to focus 100%, which will help in all my future competitions.“

Jan Joonas Pohlak, 16 – SK Elite
1st in the B Final Long Jump
Personal Instagram (@janjoonaspohlak16) followers: 331

Social Media

Mike Lawrence, whose agency Chimney Stack has led DNA communications efforts throughout the project, said the Clash of the Clubs III’s streaming and social media figures confirm once again that DNA is a valuable means for attracting and engaging young audiences.

“We are happy with DNA’s growing digital footprint and the potential the trend indicates for the future, especially when you consider that the budget and other resources invested this time had to be reduced a bit from the previous year,” he said.

As in the past, the communications strategy for this year’s Clash included an online promotions campaign, professional content creators on the ground at the event and, importantly, leveraging the participants and their personal social media accounts to aggregate an online community.

“We started weeks before Pombal by posting stories and digital trading cards of selected athletes from the various clubs on the website www.dna.run and the official DNA Tiktok and Instagram accounts,” explained Lawrence.

“Everyone involved was encouraged to become an additional communications channel for the event by sharing the DNA content we produced as well as their own with their families, friends and followers.”

Posts from athletes and team leaders continued right through the event weekend, including during the final relay, the Hunt, when all athletes were invited inside the track to cheer on teammates competing in the race and upload social media content directly from the infield.

“I think many athletes back home were following the competition online and I got a lot of good comments for my Instagram posts. I am happy I could still have two more years to compete in this event, if our team qualifies of course.“

Katie Doherty, 17 – Ratoath AC
2nd in the A Final 100 Metres
Personal Instagram (@katiedoherty287) followers: 1,152

Britons Mica Moore, who herself competed at the 2022 indoor DNA International in Glasgow and has 72,000 Instagram followers as well as more than 500,000 on TikTok, and Commonwealth Games gold medallist sprinter Ashleigh Nelson, who has 33,000 followers on Instagram, were sent to Pombal by European Athletics to produce creative images and stories throughout the weekend for the official DNA accounts and then share the content with their own account followers.

Moore explained that the duo uploaded different types of content for the channels: short-form videos and fun memes for the Tiktok audience and more in-depth video stories of athlete and fan perspectives as well as behind-the-scenes activities to explain DNA for Instagram.

“I love the atmosphere of the Clash of the Clubs. There are so many stories around the event to cover and it is great working with the U20 athletes, ” she said.

“These Gen Z and Generation Alpha kids have grown up with smartphones and social media so they are more comfortable about engaging online than many of the senior athletes on the elite circuit, even those who might be just a few years older.”

clash of the clubs iii team lazio

“Also, this group closely follows the big stars who actually do engage, like Noah Lyles for example, and they learn almost instinctively how to use social media to define themselves and create an interesting persona, which is exactly the kind of thing our sport needs for attracting new young audiences.”

Lawrence reported that this year’s Clash reached over 350,000 users on the official DNA Instagram and TikTok accounts, mostly in the countries of the participating teams, and the combined 1.35 million views (an increase of 500k from the previous year in Rome), which generated an impressive 133,600 post reactions (likes, comments, shares, saves).

And this is not counting the engagement figures for European Athletics’ Facebook and X accounts or the many accounts of the participating clubs and athletes.

According to Lawrence, the DNA online community continues to skew towards the young audience that athletics needs to reach: 50% of the TikTok followers are aged 18-24 and 24% are aged 25-34 while on Instagram 48.3% are aged 13-24, and another 17% are between 25 and 34.

“Of course, doing well in the overall competition made a positive difference, but even before we knew the final result our social media content around the event brought the club a lot of new followers on Instagram and helped us to launch our new TikTok channel..“

Marta Siljudóttir – Sparta Atletik og Løb
Coach and Communications Officer
Personal Instagram (@martamariaab) followers: 1,502

Development Potential

In addition to the evolution of the competition format and further growth of social media audiences, the next phase for DNA could feature development on a number of fronts including integration into domestic calendars, more international events and how DNA events are presented.

The consensus of the concept’s designers seems to be that for now at least DNA with its attractive team feature should be seen as a supplement to the high performance pathway for engaging the grassroots athletes who are the majority of the sport’s participants.

Already leading the way is the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA), which has staged indoor DNA inter-clubs meetings for two age groups (Senior and mixed U16-U18-U20) starting in 2021 and a national outdoor U20 championships to pick its representative to the Clash of the Clubs from 2022.

The RFEA has also delivered the DNA concept to even younger athletes through its EU-funded “Jungle Athletics” project in 2021 and 2022.

Currently in the process of introducing club DNA competitions on the national level are the federations in Czechia, Estonia and Gibraltar and several team leaders from Pombal said they would be starting discussions in their countries.

Estonian Athletic Association General Secretary Sirje Lippe says she hopes DNA’s team aspect will add a new dimension of social and friendship interest that helps reduces the dropout rate of teenagers from the sport.

“We are currently working on how to integrate DNA and the Kids’ Athletics programme of World Athletics in our country in order to provide a more attractive development pathway for young athletes,” she said.

As for international-level competitions, eight of the Pombal team leaders indicated their club would be open to hosting the Clash of the Clubs in the near future.

While a late summer date somewhere in southern Europe remains attractive because of the end of season motivation for the young athletes offered by the likelihood of good weather, the interested clubs from the northern countries all suggested staging the event indoors during the winter, which sets up an interesting discussion about DNA’s place on the calendar.

According to Lippe’s compatriot Erki Nool, the 2000 Olympic decathlon champion and team leader for SK Elite, his club’s coaches agreed after Pombal that a winter version of the Clash could help to motivate athletes and give a focus in their training period without affecting the summer competition programme.

“For most of our athletes the Clash of the Clubs is the biggest competition they will ever take part in so it is important to offer something like that as a target to shoot for whenever possible,” he said.

“The selected event format of DNA means more clubs, especially from smaller countries, will be able to compete. It took our club half a year to get the money for the trip organised, but if we had to fund a bigger team to cover all the events in a regular competition we would probably never have made it.“

Jiří Kadla – AK Škoda Plzeň
Team Leader and Coach
Personal Instagram (@jirka6325) followers: 792

When presented with the idea, Andy Kay said a winter Clash of the Clubs could attract a good live stream audience, unusual for U20 club events, and should not be too expensive to produce.

“We know the young people we are trying to reach will be watching on their phones and because the DNA programme is linear an acceptable quality production is possible with a just few cameramen and a small number of fixed cameras,” he said.

clash of the clubs iii sparta

“The indoor showcase events we’ve done in Glasgow and Madrid demonstrated the entertainment potential of DNA with the spectators up close to the action, the teams very visible near the track and what you can do with the arena lights.”

“For the U20 clubs, just like any DNA event, there are some really interesting presentational and broadcasting possibilities. It’s just a matter of deciding how far you want to take it.”

“I loved the team spirit and how everyone tried to win every point they could to help our relay team get a good start in the Hunt. If someone made a mistake in their event, the rest of us worked together to make up for it. After we got back from Pombal, DNA was all I could talk about with my friends for days. The whole concept of DNA is just great, it’s my favourite competition of all time.“

Amaya Kruse Jørgensen, 17 – Sparta Atletik og Løb
1st in the A Final 100 metres
Personal Instagram (@amayajorgensen) followers: 1’259

The Next Phase

A key factor for the future development of DNA will be the backing of European Athletics and how the concept fits into plans to help Member Federations increase the interest of young people in the sport.

European Athletics Vice President Cherry Alexander, who chairs the Competition Commission and is a strong advocate for DNA, has been assigned to lead a new working group tasked with restructuring the system of support for international-level club competition in Europe and then report to the Council in 2025.

“Our mission is to review the resources that are available for the club system and see how they can be optimised to promote the sport,” she says.

“It would make a lot of sense if the substantial investment that European Athletics has already made in DNA could be somehow leveraged in the future, especially for the younger athletes.”

Alexander’s group is likely to consider the potential of DNA to impact two lines of attack for engaging more participants and fans that were identified in the 2021 World Athletics Global Conversation survey.

First is a possible role in increasing grassroots participation, seen as particularly important by the medium and smaller sized Member Federations, as DNA offers an additional athlete development pathway, including an aspirational international event such as the Clash of the Clubs, for young people oriented towards team activities.

Second is the concept’s encouragement of club-level athletes taking part in DNA events to promote themselves and their teams through social media, which is in line with the larger federations’ priority for more social media content about and from the athletes.

Also taken into account may be the support for DNA demonstrated by more than 70 of the individuals responding to the post-Pombal survey – including athletes, coaches, team support personnel, a club president and even a member of a federation council – who supplied their names and contact details and indicated their willingness to help promote the concept at the national level.

“There are always things that can be improved but overall our kids enjoyed the event and will take away good memories and bigger motivation. Also, the younger coaches really like the concept, especially for the U20 and U18 age groups.

Paulo Reis – Sporting Club de Portugal
Team Leader and Coach
Personal Instagram (@pauloreis1972) followers: 11,400

Questions for Alexander’s working group to address before discussing the details of how to deliver any plan include: Can international events like the Clash of the Clubs drive interest and participation at the grassroots level? Does DNA, and the smaller size of teams required to compete in the format, create possibilities for more clubs around Europe to take part in such events? Are there better ways to accomplish the same objectives?

clash of the clubs iii high jump

For the wider leadership of the sport an important question will be: Can a communications strategy based on an innovative, non-traditional competition format and leveraging the online presence of the sport’s greatest assets – the athletes and their clubs – make a difference to the overall popularity of athletics in the age of social media?

Whatever the answers, the pioneering project to create and test DNA can be considered a success.

It has delivered positive experiences and tangible evidence that supports Alexander’s belief, which she expressed in a workshop entitled “Reimagining Competition” at last November’s European Athletics Convention in Skopje, that curiosity and being open-minded are critical for the sport’s future success.

“You have to try things to find out if they work,” she said. “Sometimes it’s like pushing against a really stiff door, but you learn that things can work if you’re willing to adapt to a changing world.”

“Ultimately, some initiatives might fail, but if we never try, we’ll never know. We need to understand that and be brave when it comes to innovating.”

“To bring in more fans and grow participation in the sport, we must embrace change and innovation.”

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