I'm Rob Cottingham, born in north London and based in east London. For more than a decade I’ve helped some of football’s biggest organisations connect with fans - across journalism, content strategy, campaigns and partnerships.

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I’ve grown audiences for the world’s most-read sports website, MailOnline Sport and overseen BT Sport’s non-live football content across the Premier League and Champions League. I’ve rebuilt the Football Foundation's content strategy, increasing social engagement threefold, and led Football Manager’s Content, PR and Social team through the biggest period of growth and transformation in studio history.

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My work includes leading Football Manager’s most ambitious marketing campaign to date, BT Sport’s biggest-ever UEFA content series in UCL Immortals, and taking football to Parliament with Football Foundation’s From The Roots Up showcase. 

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I’ve worked with Apple, FIFA, UEFA, Netflix, the UK Government and many more. My work on Missing Managers was recognised at Cannes Lions and BT Sport’s Unscripted won a DMA Awards Grand Prix award.

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I’ve always loved football and I’ve always loved everything around it. I grew up on Football Italia on Channel 4, Keane versus Vieira, Batistuta’s headband, Arsenal’s SEGA era, Adriano on the PES 6 cover and Total 90s. 

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It’s taken me to derbies in Glasgow, Rome, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Casablanca, Seoul and Mexico City. It’s taught me more about the fall of the Soviet Union, Franco’s Spain and post-industrial Britain than a university degree could. And more than anything, it’s shown me the most interesting thing about football is rarely just the football itself.

People connect with shared stories, identity and communities long before they connect with a brand or product. The strongest campaigns understand those communities first, then create a world that people can see themselves in.

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I build strategy, content and partnerships that earn brands their place inside the stories and conversations fans already care about.