The Challenge: Connecting International Families to Student Football
When Davide and his friends founded Hello Kitties FC—a student football team in Maastricht, Netherlands—they faced a problem common to international university communities: families couldn't watch their games.
"The majority of us are foreigners to this country. I'm Italian, so my family and friends watching would be in Italy. That's why most people that watch the streams are either French, Italian, or German—most are not Dutch because the streams are mainly for the people away."
— Davide, Hello Kitties FC Founder
Maastricht Sunday League, founded in 2021, grew quickly to become the biggest student sports organization in Maastricht—a university city where sports culture at universities is typically weak compared to the United States.
The team tried Instagram Live initially, but quickly discovered its limitations. Viewers had no way to see the score, time remaining, or match context in real-time. The comment section filled with constant questions:
"What's the score? What time? How many minutes left?"
Davide, a second-year synthetic biology student, took on the challenge of finding a better solution—one that would make their streams look professional without requiring a computer science background.
Finding the Right Solution: Overlays for Non-Gamers
Davide's search began while procrastinating from studying: "I needed to find something to help the football team with."
He switched from Instagram to Twitch—a platform better suited for live streaming—but encountered a new problem: Twitch is built for gaming, not sports. Most overlays were designed for gameplay or reaction videos.
"I was procrastinating studying and I needed to find something to help the football team with. And I saw that Canva had different overlays, but again, there were fixed mounted ones that you just put in on the stream, so they wouldn't have been helpful."
The search for sports-specific overlays proved difficult:
"I was having a lot of difficulty finding websites that could help me bring that to life because, again, I don't come from a programming background, I don't come from a computer science background. So I couldn't make my own overlays or own live scores to keep."
Through Google searches and YouTube research about Twitch streaming, Davide discovered the term "overlays" and began searching specifically for that functionality. KeepTheScore appeared in his results.
The Decision Point:
Davide tested KeepTheScore's basic (free) version first: "It worked well, but then I think everything improved so much more when we applied for the pro and got where you could customize it."
The Pro version unlocked customization—team colors, emblems, league logos, custom names—transforming the streams from functional to professional.
What Made It Work:
The simplicity mattered because Davide needed to train teammates with no technical background:
"KeepTheScore was very intuitive to use. The editing of the colors and the names, it's very easy. I just showed him how it works—it really works as a scoreboard that you maintain on your phone with different buttons."
— Davide
The Implementation: iPhone, Twitch, and Two Links
The Physical Setup:
The team's streaming setup is remarkably portable:
- Camera: iPhone 15 on tripod
- Power: Battery pack (streaming + data drains battery quickly)
- Connection: 4G mobile data from the pitch
- Streaming platform: Streamlabs mobile app (easier than OBS for field setup)
- Scoreboard control: Separate device (phone or tablet)
"I have a tripod, I use an iPhone 15, I have a battery pack connected because between the live stream and using the data, it uses a lot of battery," Davide explains. "And then an extra device in order to control the scores and the times."
The Two-Link System:
KeepTheScore provides two essential links:
- Display URL: Added to Streamlabs as a browser source overlay
- Control URL: Sent to the person updating scores in real-time
"I just added a URL of the link that allows you to put the scoreboard on the live game. And then sent another link to my friend's phone or another phone or device that was able, that the link that changed the score and changed the time and kept the game up."
The Learning Curve:
Training the person updating scores took just one demonstration:
"At the beginning it was big... he didn't really understand why there were two links. But then when I showed him how it works and everything... he was like, 'Oh, okay, perfect. Easy.' And smooth sailing, no problems with that on that aspect."
Playoff Expansion:
When the Maastricht Sunday League noticed the team's streaming success, they partnered with Davide to stream all 16 playoff games. This required creating 20 different scoreboard configurations (one for each matchup) and cycling through them over an 8-hour Sunday of continuous games.
"Since each game would have a different overlay, I had other overlays made for each game. So on the website you can have I think up to 20 overlays made at the same time. So I had one ready for each game. And so between each game I'll just change the link on the overlay."
The Results: From Student Team to Streaming Business
Twitch Affiliate Status
The team's Twitch channel qualified for affiliate status, enabling ad revenue:
"We now qualified for Twitch affiliate, meaning we had enough streams regularly to make revenue off of Twitch. And I could see the moment we started using KeepTheScore, it grew much more. Not only did it grow in amounts of views, but in people staying in the live stream. There was less confusion about what time it was in the game, what the score was, or what point we were at."
— Davide on achieving Twitch affiliate status
Reduced Comment Confusion
Before implementing the football scoreboard, the Twitch chat filled with logistics questions. After implementation, viewers could focus on the game itself:
"It really added a much more clear element to the game and much less chatter of confusion in people watching at home. Meaning that people could enjoy it with less questions."
League Partnership and Board Membership
"They asked the team who was in charge of the live stream, then moved on to me. They asked how it was working, and then asked me to join as a board member. They saw that more people could watch the streams and were following their Instagrams—they really saw the value in live streaming."
— Davide on joining the league board
New Revenue Stream
Other teams in the league began asking Hello Kitties FC to help them stream their games—for a fee:
"Next season though, we're making deals with the teams in order for us to help them live stream so then more live streams can happen... paying us to live stream for them as we have the platform and we have all the accounts and all the setup."
What started as a solution for family viewing became a service business.
Team Revenue Diversification
Hello Kitties FC now generates income from multiple sources:
- Jersey sales
- Twitch ad revenue (via affiliate program)
- Merchandise
- Streaming services for other teams
- Partnerships and discounts from vendors
"We made some profit this year through Jersey sales, through ad revenue and through merchandise. And also through partnerships with different companies, giving us a discount in order to stream the games."
Geographic Reach
The streams connect families across Europe. Parents in Greece, grandparents in Italy, friends in France—all watching Sunday afternoon matches from Maastricht.
Why It Works for Student Sports Organizations
The European Context
Davide highlights a key cultural difference: "Europe has not a strong culture for sports in universities or high schools. So normally very separate."
Unlike American universities with their robust athletic programs and stadium scoreboards, European university sports are typically informal. This league filled a gap:
"When people were introduced to this league, they had such an admiration for it because they could finally get together with some friends, build a team and actually play together and have pride about something connected through university, but being sports instead of education."
— Davide on European university sports culture
The lack of physical scoreboards at pitches makes streaming overlays even more valuable—they provide information that doesn't exist in-person.
Student Budget Constraints
The team operates on student budgets with no university funding. When Davide wanted to upgrade to Pro, the team chipped in collectively. For the playoffs, the league covered the cost.
The pay-as-you-go model fits student organizations: "It's easier, especially coming from multiple pockets, it's easy to collect money once than multiple times."
Mobile-First Necessity
The field setup makes desktop streaming impractical:
"The problem with OBS is that out on the field, we don't have access. I mean, I could bring my computer, but it would complicate everything much more. While it's so much easier with Streamlabs because there's the mobile app."
With everything running on phones, fewer components mean fewer potential failures: "Being out in the open, meaning we have less choices to fix if something goes wrong. So less parts we have moving, easier it is to maintain it running."
Key Takeaways
Critical Success Factors:
- Mobile-first necessity: Field streaming requires phone-based solutions—Streamlabs mobile app proved essential where OBS on laptop would be impractical
- Professional appearance drives revenue: Clear scoreboards reduced viewer confusion, increasing watch time enough to qualify for Twitch affiliate status
- Two-device simplicity: Camera phone + separate scoreboard control device creates manageable setup trainable in one demonstration
- International student context: Families across Europe watching Sunday matches created core viewership driving ad revenue and league partnerships
Technical Implementation:
- Two-link system (display URL for overlay, control URL for scoring updates)
- Up to 20 saved scoreboard configurations enabling all-day tournament coverage
- iPhone 15 + battery pack necessary for extended 4G streaming
- Twitch over Instagram Live for better sports streaming and monetization options
Looking Forward: Sustainability and Growth
Team Longevity
With most players in their final bachelor year, succession planning is crucial. The team is actively recruiting younger players and non-playing contributors to ensure continuity.
Future Growth Plans
The team is expanding to YouTube alongside Twitch and planning enhanced production quality with multiple camera angles and official stats tracking. The league has commissioned a local student startup to build a comprehensive match statistics app.
The Bigger Picture: Culture Through Connection
At its core, this case study isn't about technology—it's about creating community across borders:
"We're all doing this out of fun, out of pleasure. It's not a job for us. So we really enjoy doing all of this."
In a university where students come from across Europe, a simple live score overlay became the foundation for a streaming business, Twitch affiliate status, league partnership, and sustainable student sports organization.
"I could not imagine not streaming without it or without platforms such as KeepTheScore."
Ready to stream your sports with professional live scoreboards? Get started with KeepTheScore for free and bring your games to families and fans worldwide.