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When an athlete receives a death threat online, most sporting organisations know a response is needed. There may be a safeguarding policy to follow or a process for reporting the content. But what happens when the abuse reaches someone else? An athlete’s partner might start receiving messages from the same accounts, their children could be mentioned in threatening posts, or a manager who steps in to help might become a target too. These people may have no public profile of th

If your business supplies the Ministry of Defence, there is a cybersecurity deadline worth having on your radar before the end of the year. The MoD has asked its industry partners to achieve Level 0 of Defence Cyber Certification (DCC) by 31 December 2026, and with only a couple of months to go, now is a sensible time to check where you stand, while you still have plenty of time to sort anything out. Level 0 is the entry point to the scheme, so for many suppliers the requirem

We love watching sport, and much of that comes from the people playing it. They are human enough to remind us of ourselves and impressive enough to make us want to be a bit more like them, and we follow them through the mistakes, the bad days and the defeats as much as the wins. Yet a survey by the FIA and United Against Online Abuse found that 90% of the federations surveyed believe athletes may leave their sport as a result of online abuse. That is hard to ignore when sp

If your business sits inside a major financial or professional services network, you have probably already seen the emails. Partners of networks such as St James's Place are being told that Cyber Essentials Plus certification needs to be in place between November and February, and for a lot of operations directors, that deadline still feels comfortably far away. It isn't. October is when the groundwork for that certification needs to start, and businesses that leave it until

Cybersecurity is quickly becoming part of the procurement conversation, especially if you supply larger organisations. A contract renewal that used to focus on price, service levels and delivery might now come with questions about how well protected your business actually is, and whether you can prove it. That's largely down to the new Cyber Resilience Pledge. Launched at 10 Downing Street in July 2026 by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the National

By the time pre-season friendlies roll around, most elite clubs have already spent months getting the physical side of things right. Sports science teams have mapped every player's GPS load down to the metre. Medical screens have checked hearts, joints, and everything in between. Tactical analysts have pored over data from last season and the one before it, building a picture sharp enough to plan a whole campaign around. It's an impressive operation, built at real cost. Walk

Every fourth quarter, a familiar pattern plays out across professional networks. Firms operating under major wealth management, legal, and financial services umbrellas discover, often later than they should, that their Cyber Essentials Plus certification is expiring right when it matters most. St James's Place made the certification mandatory for its 2,800-plus partner practices in May 2024, and it wasn't the first major network to do it, nor will it be the last. When one of

We know what these players eat, how far they run and how fast they recover. We've followed them from their first season, watched them grow up, wear the shirt and carry the hopes of an entire country into a tournament. A nation invests a lot of feeling in its footballers, and most of the time that feeling is genuine and warm. There has never been a better time to be a football fan. There has also, arguably, never been a harder time to be a footballer. The same technology that

Penalty shootouts have ended careers, defined legacies and broken hearts since football first introduced them. The 29th of June added two more chapters to that history. Paraguay beat Germany, ending a 44-year unbeaten World Cup shootout record that had become one of the sport's great certainties, four previous shootouts, 17 of 18 kicks converted, a nation that had treated penalty football like a scheduled bank transfer. Hours later, Morocco eliminated the Netherlands 3-2. Two

Football is very used to managing detail. Contracts are checked carefully, transfers involve legal and financial oversight, and access to players, medical information, and commercial data is usually tightly controlled. At the top end of the game, very little is meant to be left to chance. Which is why the recent attempted fraud involving a Premier League transfer is so striking. According to a BBC report, cyber criminals were able to compromise email communications during a t

When a player arrives at a major tournament, almost every part of their physical security has been considered, from who can get near them to where they stay and how they move between training, media and matchday. That level of planning is expected at the top of the game, and most people working in football understand why it matters. The boundary looks different once they get back to their room and pick up their phone. A stranger does not need to get through a hotel lobby or p

Imagine making a mistake at work despite trying your best. Now imagine that moment being replayed and picked apart by millions of strangers on the internet. Football has always had a complicated relationship with what happens online, and in the news. But the 2026 FIFA World Cup represents something genuinely new in terms of scale, and with that comes a level of exposure for players that the sport has not had to manage before. Forty-eight teams, three host nations, and an aud

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will bring 48 teams, three host nations, and a global audience that dwarfs anything the tournament has seen before. For the players involved, that scale is part of what makes the event so special. It is also what makes the moments that go wrong feel so much bigger than they would anywhere else. We have seen this before The most widely documented example remains Bukayo Saka at Euro 2020. At 19, he stepped up to take the decisive penalty in the final, an

What the sports industry is really talking about right now Events like SportsPro London tend to show what the industry is actually dealing with, not just what people say they are dealing with. This year’s themes focus on familiar challenges, from commercial pressure and sponsorship value to the practical use of technology and the need to protect performance in a constantly connected world. None of those conversations sit in isolation anymore, and most organisations are findin

For most elite athletes, social media is simply part of the job now. It’s how they connect with fans, work with sponsors, and stay visible in a competitive industry. Being active online is often expected, and for many athletes, it plays a genuine role in their career. But visibility also brings exposure, and not everything that appears on a screen is easy to ignore, especially when it follows you long after the event is over. Public criticism has always existed in sport. Athl

For families who live and operate in the public eye, visibility is not optional. It is part of success. It reflects achievement, influence, and leadership. But in a digital world, visibility no longer stops at what is intentionally shared. It extends into data trails, behavioural patterns, and online signals that accumulate quietly over time. For professional athletes, executives, and high-profile families, that extended visibility creates a different category of exposure. Th

For families who carry responsibility across generations, risk planning is never reactive. It is thoughtful, measured, and designed to protect more than numbers on a balance sheet. It protects legacy, reputation, continuity, and ultimately peace of mind, but in the modern world, it must also protect digital life. The intersection of digital systems and family legacy For high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth families, digital systems now sit quietly behind almost every decis

Elite performance beyond the field For elite athletes, performance pressure is no longer confined to the field. It extends into their digital lives. This is why Fleko will be attending the International Sports Convention this 25-26 March 2026 , stand 67. As the sports industry gathers to discuss performance, wellbeing, safeguarding, and the realities of modern sport, one theme continues to surface. Elite performance today is shaped by far more than training and competition.

Elite performance is not just physical. It is mental, emotional, and increasingly digital. For professional athletes, focus is everything. Training, preparation, recovery, and decision-making all depend on mental clarity. Yet one growing source of distraction is rarely discussed. Digital anxiety. It is not something athletes plan for, but it has a real impact on performance. It does not appear on a training schedule, yet it quietly influences focus, decision making, and recov

For ultra-high net worth families, privacy is a responsibility. One that sits alongside wealth stewardship, reputation, and long-term continuity. In 2026, UHNW families operate across multiple locations, advisors, and digital environments. Communication, financial oversight, travel, and family administration all rely on connected systems. These systems make modern life possible, but they also increase exposure in ways that are often invisible until something goes wrong. Prote