You are correct to say it had deteriorated in recent years. But the latest change is much more than just "deterioration". J
I offered them the kick off times of EVERY European world cup qualifiers since the first played in advance of WC 1934. In my eyes, i asked for a reasonable price, compared to the efforts i had researching these information, mainly from print mags and newspapers. (learned some islandic therewith). It is absolutely unique, considers time zone abbreviations, is complete (no kick off missing)) and I would have granted them even exclusive rights. To me this is a must have purchase for at least the FIFA Museum. They declined because of my price expectations, while UEFA has all of their Euro Qualifier kick off times (with some minor errors). Can we say, they don't care? Maybe it is the same with their own website. If you like, you can PM me and tell me, what you would think, my exclusive data collection is worth in your eyes. Just out of curiosity.
I am working as a PM at a TV broadcaster, and i guess, at FIFA, they have the IT under the CFO like during the Byzantine Age and this often means - no money for innovation. "We are not an IT company".
That would sort of make more sense if they never had a decent website. But the stuff they put out - even more than a decade ago - was far far superior. Why the massive degradation? The data and structure and look of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers information is so much worse than what it was even for Germany 2006 - it is almost like they replaced a website team with a couple of toddlers with crayons! To be fair, the AFC has seen a similar sort of diminution in the output of officla match data. Although it has been offset by better coverage of more "general" information. J
well as i work in a similar industry, it might well be, that they completely replaced the old staff....by chosing a new supplier or outsourcing. and suppliers don't have the heart and mind for innovation, structure, details, performance aso. "function is working? here is the invoice."
That's pretty likely. The AFC has changed supplier at least twice in the last few years - FIFA is probably the same. I think most of them have changed at some point - some being better at not making the new product suck so much. J
Who remembers when World Cup 2006 Qualifying (and possibly others) had a site www.fifaworldcup.com in addition to www.fifa.com
Websites get changed for the worse for a couple reasons. The first is that they go to a platform where one site works on both desktop and mobile devices. That often destroys the experience desktop users knew and loved. This is partly due to making it easier to maintain and partly because the newer & easier technology is moving this direction. Overlaying on top of all of this are the marketing people who rarely have a grasp on the business or what the end users want. The type of people who used to design product packaging and logos get involved in branding the entire look and feel of a website. As marketing people often do, they push flash over actual content and usability.