By Paul Nicholson
June 12 – Pick the best 30 players in the world and play them off against each other – Europe vs Rest of the World – is something that could generally only happens in a computer game. Having football fans globally pick the top 30 players makes it slightly more unlikely. Or is it?
A website just launched, www.fansallstar.com, is doing just that, or at least the public voting part. Football fans from around the world are being invited to vote for their favourite European and Rest of the World squads to answer the ultimate debate on who would make the fans ultimate squads.
The concept is the brainchild of Chris Akers, former chairman of Leeds United and chairman of AIM-listed Concha plc. Akers is currently testing the fan voting concept across web, mobile and app platforms, as well as driving interaction through social media platforms Facebook and Twitter. The objective is to build the proposition out to eventually also include a Europe vs Rest of the World game played between the players who come top of the public vote.
The concept is not entirely new but it has never been played out on this scale before, and it has never made use of digital and social media to build a global interactive event.
“All Star games are an accepted and anticipated date in the sports calendar, especially in US sports,” said Akers. “Football is the people’s game so let the people decide who the best are. The beauty of the concept is that it is simple. The difficult part always is putting the technology, the global distribution and the deals together”
“The core of this project is actually getting fans to engage and to get involved with picking teams and debating who should be included. If we then are able to put all those players on the same pitch at the same time one day, it is hard to see anyone not wanting to watch the match or be there,” said Akers.
“Of course getting agreement from the key stakeholders to release the dates and players will not be easy – there are a lot of people to get round. But a number of conversations have already taken place with some of these stakeholders with a very positive reaction. They are football fans as well and they all are curious to see how this match would play out – who wouldn’t be?”
Funding for the project to date has been provided by Akers and other unnamed investors.
“I am in various discussions with investors and sponsors. When we are ready to announce then we will do so but there is no hurry just yet”
To pick your European and Rest of the World teams go to www.fansallstar.com.
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