You are probably familiar with the concept of Crowdfunding, or participatory financing, which is day by day becoming a new alternative and collaborative economy that allows, for example, a music group, an illustrator, or a start-up to call on internet users to bring a project to life. France is moreover the 2nd European country (behind the United Kingdom) in terms of funds collected through this model.
In early November 2015, a small revolution took place in this sector — and more specifically in professional sport: football supporters can now mobilise for their beloved club, enabling it to access new revenue streams to recruit better players or retain its best assets during transfer windows (mercato).
Indeed, the Montpellier-based company Give in Sport offers true football fans the opportunity to mobilise online through its platform.
This concept, known as "Fanfunding", was initiated by 2 web-entrepreneurs and business partners for 15 years (Florent Mondolfo, President, and Boris Bergerot, CEO), who started from a triple observation:
- European professional football struggles to pay off its debts (€3 billion in total) and clubs must cope with rising expenditure while complying with the rules of European governing bodies (UEFA financial fair play)
- clubs' revenue streams (ticketing, sponsorship, merchandising, subsidies, broadcasting rights) are no longer sufficient to balance budgets, and competitiveness is becoming ever more demanding in every league,
- supporters, wherever they may be (season ticket holders or not, geographically close to their club or not), want to help their club field a stronger team or sometimes avoid relegation.
Innovative and challenging the norms of professional sport, the startup Give in Sport draws on numerous levers for its growth: a highly secure online transaction system, a multilingual and multi-currency website, strong ties with the professional football ecosystem… Transparency and trust are the watchwords of this service.
In summary, Give in Sport is the first platform for supporting the development of professional football clubs through their supporters.
Present in 14 countries, across 20 leagues and listing 350 professional teams, the Fanfunding concept offered by Give in Sport meets a concrete need shared by more than 500 million supporters around the world.
Visit the Give in Sport platform!