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Israeli football: Fans hog limelight
For the Israeli football team, Hapoel Kiryat Shalom, it is not the coach or team captains who make strategic decisions - it is the team's fans.
Tel Aviv:
Indian cricket fans would love to have the power to determine the playing eleven, the strategies and the batting line-up.
Well, they can't, but the supporters of the Israeli football team Hapoel Kiryat Shalom certainly can.
This is interactive sport on a completely different level.
The common practices followed by the football teams all over the world could be the coach reviewing the pre-game strategy, as the players put on their game-faces.
But for the Israeli football team, Hapoel Kiryat Shalom, it is not the coach or the team captains who make strategic decisions - it is the team's fans.
"It is a new concept and very thrilling one, because I get to choose everything that happens inside the game, said Patrice Perez, Kiryat Shalom Soccer Fan.
"Whether it's before the game, or during the game, I have a say in it," he added
Fans of the club can log on to their website and choose everything from the starting 11 to what position each player will play.
And the interactive experience does not end here.
During the match, fans vote on substitutions in a live online poll and the coach is under strict orders to accept the fans' instructions.
This practice started when Lionel Messi was omitted from Argentina's starting lineup to play Germany in a World Cup match last year. Die-hard fan, Moshe Hogeg was livid, but inspired.
"We got the idea from last World Cup, when in the quarter finals when Argentina played Germany and millions of fans all the over the world wanted to see Messi playing in the starting eleven, one man thought other and destroyed all of our dreams," said Moshe Hogeg, CEO of Web2Sport.
Not willing to experience the same pain at club level Hogeg's Internet company, Web2Sport bought over third division team Kiryat Shalom and handed complete power to the fans.
The experiment is just one match old, and unfortunately for the fans their first outing as managers was unsuccessful.
So while fans are usually quick to point out the manager's faults, it seems now they will have no one but themselves to blame.
Well, they can't, but the supporters of the Israeli football team Hapoel Kiryat Shalom certainly can.
This is interactive sport on a completely different level.
The common practices followed by the football teams all over the world could be the coach reviewing the pre-game strategy, as the players put on their game-faces.
But for the Israeli football team, Hapoel Kiryat Shalom, it is not the coach or the team captains who make strategic decisions - it is the team's fans.
"It is a new concept and very thrilling one, because I get to choose everything that happens inside the game, said Patrice Perez, Kiryat Shalom Soccer Fan.
"Whether it's before the game, or during the game, I have a say in it," he added
Fans of the club can log on to their website and choose everything from the starting 11 to what position each player will play.
And the interactive experience does not end here.
During the match, fans vote on substitutions in a live online poll and the coach is under strict orders to accept the fans' instructions.
This practice started when Lionel Messi was omitted from Argentina's starting lineup to play Germany in a World Cup match last year. Die-hard fan, Moshe Hogeg was livid, but inspired.
"We got the idea from last World Cup, when in the quarter finals when Argentina played Germany and millions of fans all the over the world wanted to see Messi playing in the starting eleven, one man thought other and destroyed all of our dreams," said Moshe Hogeg, CEO of Web2Sport.
Not willing to experience the same pain at club level Hogeg's Internet company, Web2Sport bought over third division team Kiryat Shalom and handed complete power to the fans.
The experiment is just one match old, and unfortunately for the fans their first outing as managers was unsuccessful.
So while fans are usually quick to point out the manager's faults, it seems now they will have no one but themselves to blame.
Topics mentioned in this article
Football
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