By Samindra Kunti
August 20 – Belgian topflight club Sint-Truidense V.V. have partnered with Swiss start-up kickrs.net to crowd-fund the transfers of football players. Fans of STVV can invest in 18-year old Greek striker Panagiotis Kynigopoulos.
STVV returned to the elite of Belgian football this summer after languishing three seasons in the second division. The club is chaired by Bart Lammens. In the opening weekend Sint-Truiden defeated Club Brugge 2-1.
The club have taken a new approach to transfers by teaming up with kickrs.net in what is a groundbreaking pilot-project in Belgian football.
“This way our fans can be the player agents,” said STVV general director Philippe Bormans in a press release. “A fan can assess if a player is worth to invest in. I describe it as a mix of the stock market, gambling and supporting [a club]. We now start with a crowd-funding campaign and we will see how much money pours in.”
kickrs.net is the brainchild of its founder and current CEO Christoph Hornung. The idea is for fans to be scouts. Hornung wants to revolutionize the transfer business with his unconventional approach.
“Sint-Truiden leans towards the top of Belgium in terms of infrastructure and management,” said kickrs.net co-founder Daniel Hildebrand. “Yannick Ferrera is a young and ambitious coach, and with Bart Lammens they have a visionary club president.”
“Ferrera has made a counterattacking team of Sint-Truiden, which plays into the hands of Kynigopoulos’ speed,” continued Hildebrand. “It is a young team that banks on improving young players. He has more chance to get minutes at STVV than at larger European clubs. “
kickrs.net market Kynigopoulos, a Greece U19 forward, as comfortable playing both as a right-winger and a striker with the attributes needed to succeed at the highest level. In short, he’s a player that should appeal to fans, who can invest up to €1000 in the player.
STVV already own Kynigopoulos, but aim to raise €300,000 with the novel experiment. If the Greek prodigy is than sold on, both STVV and the fans will enjoy a return on their investment. For the fans the actual transfer price will not be taken into account, but an independent panel of experts will set market price.
The crowd-funding campaign commenced yesterday in the late afternoon. So far, 66 investors have raised €7,590.
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