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Israeli soccer fans to pick team online
For the Israeli football team, Hapoel Kiryat Shalom, it's not the coach or team captains who make strategic decisions it's the team's fans.
Tel Aviv:
Now Indian cricket fans would love it if they had the power to determine the playing eleven the strategies and the batting line-up.
Well, they can't but supporters of the Israeli football team Hapoel Kiryat Shalom certainly can, its interactive sport on a whole different level.
It's a scene repeated by football teams all over the world, the coach reviews the pre game strategy, as the players put on their game-faces.
But for the Israeli football team, Hapoel Kiryat Shalom, it's not the coach or team captains who make strategic decisions it's the team's fans.
"It's a new concept. It's very thrilling actually, because I get to choose everything that happens inside the game. Whether it's before the game, whether it's during the game, I have a say in it," said Patrice Perez, Kiryat Shalom Soccer Fan.
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 doesn't end there during the match, fans vote on substitutions in a live online poll and coach is under strict orders to accept the fans' instructions.
It all started when Lionel Messi, seen scoring against Mexico in the Copa America, 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, 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, Kiryat Shalom, seen in the blue shorts, losing 3-2.
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 supporters of the Israeli football team Hapoel Kiryat Shalom certainly can, its interactive sport on a whole different level.
It's a scene repeated by football teams all over the world, the coach reviews the pre game strategy, as the players put on their game-faces.
But for the Israeli football team, Hapoel Kiryat Shalom, it's not the coach or team captains who make strategic decisions it's the team's fans.
"It's a new concept. It's very thrilling actually, because I get to choose everything that happens inside the game. Whether it's before the game, whether it's during the game, I have a say in it," said Patrice Perez, Kiryat Shalom Soccer Fan.
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 doesn't end there during the match, fans vote on substitutions in a live online poll and coach is under strict orders to accept the fans' instructions.
It all started when Lionel Messi, seen scoring against Mexico in the Copa America, 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, 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, Kiryat Shalom, seen in the blue shorts, losing 3-2.
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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