Footbao already has more than half a million users in the country and brings together talents, stars, brands and clubs
With the goal of finding the soccer stars of tomorrow, digital platform Footbao is investing $5 million (about R$27 million) to create a global talent program. The timing is right, after all, clubs around the world are increasingly dependent on international players.
Since 2020, the number of expatriate athletes has grown by about 20%. South America, in fact, represents 42% of this figure. Over the last decade, the transfer market has generated about 75 billion euros.
The Brazilian sportstech, created by Swiss entrepreneurs, has Murat Yakin (coach of the Swiss national team) as one of its advisors. The goal, in fact, is to build a unique ecosystem around football, bringing together user-generated content, talent discovery, events and new ways for brands to connect with consumers.
Murat Yakin, coach of Switzerland (left), with the founders of Footbao – Photo: Disclosure
“By using technology and artificial intelligence to bring together the different ties that connect the world of football, it is therefore possible to expand talent discovery in ways never imagined before,” said Francesco Ciringione, one of the founders.
“The reason we decided to invest in Brazil and build this unique ecosystem around football is to democratize talent discovery and find the next Vini Jr, Marta and Pelés,” explained fellow founder Boris Collardi.
Talents of tomorrow
The use of this technology, in fact, has allowed Gloria, 16 years old, and Samuel, just 8 years old, to arouse the interest of Corinthians and Flamengo respectively.
“Since we created our team in Brazil in March this year, our growth rate has been on an exponential curve, increasing the number of users 36-fold from January to June and reaching the milestone of half a million people across all our platforms,” said Nick Rappolt, CEO of Footbao.
Officially launched in April this year, Footbao expects a growth of over 200% in the number of active users on its networks by July. After all, it has identified 250 potential talents and already has two cases of talents discovered and hired by professional teams through the application. The journey that begins in Brazil will go global next year, when operations will begin in Europe, Africa and Asia.
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Source: Terra
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
