Connecting Racket Sport Players and Venues
MATCHi is a pioneering platform in the racket sports industry, dedicated to enhancing the accessibility and enjoyment of sports like padel, tennis, badminton, table tennis, pickleball, and squash. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, MATCHi has established itself as a leader in connecting players with venues worldwide.
With operations in over 3,000 clubs across multiple continents, including Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, MATCHi has built a robust network that spans diverse markets.
In recent years, MATCHi has experienced significant growth, welcoming hundreds of new venues across more than 50 countries. This expansion underscores the company's commitment to its mission and highlights its success in meeting the evolving needs of the racket sports community.
The Need to Solve In-app Communication Experience
As MATCHi evolved into a full-fledged platform for racket sports, it became clear that communication between players was a missing piece in the user experience.
The need became especially evident with the launch of a new feature: public matches, where players can create a booking and open it up for others to join. While this opened exciting possibilities for casual matchups and new connections, it also highlighted a major gap—coordination. Players often needed to ask simple but important questions like “Who’s bringing the balls?”, “How do I get to the venue?”, or “Can we shift the time?”. The same problem extended to private matches, training sessions, and coaching groups.
Without an in-app chat feature, users had to switch to tools like SMS, WhatsApp, or email, creating a disjointed experience and pulling them out of the MATCHi ecosystem.
Real-time, reliable chat was no longer a nice-to-have feature—it was essential. That is when they turned to CometChat.
How MATCHi uses CometChat
MATCHi turned to CometChat to overcome a major challenge: fragmented communication that often happened off-platform—through SMS, WhatsApp, or other third-party tools. This led to coordination issues and platform leakage.
By integrating CometChat, MATCHi brought communication back under one roof, enabling seamless coordination between players, coaches, and venue owners—all within the MATCHi ecosystem.
It started with public matches, where strangers could join open games. This instantly created a need for clear, in-context communication. CometChat made it possible by enabling:
01.
Instant group chats auto-generated for each public match—so players can quickly align on timing, location, and logistics like who’s bringing the gear.
02.
Integrated chat for private matches and training sessions, eliminating the need to switch between apps.
03.
Contextual conversations—each chat stays tied to its match, team, or training session, keeping things organized and relevant.
With CometChat’s flexible and feature-rich toolkit, MATCHi built exactly what users needed:
01.
Contextual group chats tied to matches and sessions
02.
1:1 messaging (planned) for direct communication between players
03.
Coach-to-player chat within training groups
04.
Venue-to-player messaging (future scope) for court updates or reschedules
05.
Blocking, reporting, and profanity filters to maintain a positive environment
06.
Admin moderation tools to keep conversations safe and respectful
By embedding CometChat, MATCHi didn’t just add chat - they created a connected, cohesive experience that enhances every interaction across the platform.
