An interesting development merging the worlds of football and trading is gathering apace in the UK, and it’s already proving a big hit with bettors and football fans alike.
After all, trading on the stock market is essentially just gambling on something going up or down in value, so it makes sense that the two worlds would eventually find each other.
This specific deal concerns the American stock exchange, Nasdaq, and the UK company Football Index.
What is Nasdaq?
Nasdaq is the second largest stock exchange in the world, beaten only by the New York stock exchange.
It was originally set up in 1971 but took a massive hit in the early 2000s when the dot com bubble burst.
It recovered steadily and over the last decade has sold its’ technology to many other exchanges around the world, so for them, this isn’t much different.
However, this is the first time their technology has been used on a sports exchange along with their branding.
What is Football Index?
Only launched in 2014, Football Index is a website that serves as a stock exchange for football players. Customers can buy shares in their favourite players and trade them as the players’ market value goes up and down. It doesn’t work exactly like a traditional stock market, but it’s not far off.
The software will be used to match buyers and sellers, and can also track many prices and handle trades quickly, which was the main attraction for Football Index according to chief exec Adam Cole.
It is a brand new way for sports bettors to gamble, and also makes trading much more accessible to people who know their football, but have little to no knowledge in more traditional markets like commodities, for example.
How Do I Make Money?
This is the fun bit.
There are two ways to make money on Football Index;
- Capital Appreciation: That’s buying and selling to you and me. Trading your shares at the right time can make you money. Have a look at the spread, and decide whether to take the instant sell price or join the buy queue and wait for another trader. The player’s value will change depending on whether people are buying or selling shares in them
- Dividends: Daily payouts on players who perform well in the media or on the pitch. One player from each position and an additional ‘star’ player will all earn dividends for bettors holding shares in them on any match day. In-play dividends exist too, based on the clean sheets, goals, and assists your players notch up.
The great thing is that if you spot potential in a player early on and buy shares, as that player develops and (hopefully) becomes world-class, you will be earning dividends the whole time.
This means that bettors with good footballing brains can really put their knowledge and instinct to good use, and the Nasdaq software being employed will make the whole system really easy to use for such advanced technology.