“Digital platform for all Finnish ice hockey” – The Finnish Ice Hockey Association and Digia have entered into a collaboration agreement

Ice hockey is one of Finland’s most popular sports, with hundreds of leagues and divisions. There are approximately 70,000 registered players in Finland, with the majority being juniors. When you consider players, parents, officials, and professionals, the entire Finnish hockey community comprises hundreds of thousands of people.

“The primary goal of this system overhaul, known as the competition and transaction system, is to provide easier and smoother interactions for this diverse group. Digia was chosen as a partner due to its versatile expertise, and their commitment to and understanding of hockey as the official digital partner of the Finnish Liiga,” says Jere Lahti, Director of competence development & CDO.

The core technologies for this project include React.js, Next.js, and Node.js, along with the Azure Web Service (AWS) for cloud infrastructure.

The new system will serve not only professionals but also hockey parents and enthusiasts

It aims to accommodate various usage scenarios and situations comprehensively, with a focus on user-centric design and service design.

For the staff at the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, this system serves as an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that manages tasks such as scheduling games, player transfers, disciplinary matters, financial administration, and other day-to-day operations.

Within the service, club officials and team managers can handle information related to their clubs and teams, including team compositions and other relevant data.

“Club officials and team managers form a diverse group, with individual digital skills varying widely. The system’s user interface is designed and tested collaboratively from the ground up with users. The goal is to make managing ice hockey-related matters easy and efficient for all users,” says Sami Paihonen, SVP of Digital Services at Digia, who is also a hockey fan himself.

Digia’s involvement in hockey development extends beyond the top league level

For several years, Digia has been implementing services for hockey enthusiasts as the official digital partner of the Finnish Liiga. Examples include the Liiga mobile app, revamped websites, and the most recent update to statistics and results services.

Collaborating with the Finnish Ice Hockey Association broadens the perspective from professional hockey to club officials, junior players, and their parents.

“Functional digital services contribute to making hockey a pleasant and enjoyable experience for families. By supporting children and youth sports this way, Digia aims to play a role in fostering ice hockey passion”, Paihonen emphasizes.

Paihonen believes that there is much to learn from collaboration with both the Liiga and its member clubs.

“For instance, the decision to develop Liiga club mobile apps on a shared platform, rather than separate applications, benefits everyone involved. Such collaborative efforts remain relatively rare on a global scale. Finland has the opportunity to be a pioneer in this area, demonstrating the synergy between top-level hockey and association-level initiatives,” says Paihonen.

More information:

Sami Paihonen
Senior Vice President, Digital Solutions, Digia
tel. 050 502 1111
sami.paihonen(a)digia.com

Jere Lahti
Director of competence development & CDO, The Finnish Ice Hockey Association
tel. 050 443 2500
jere.lahti(a)finhockey.fi