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MyFootballClub is an English
Industrial and Provident Society An industrial and provident society (IPS) is a body corporate registered for carrying on any industries, businesses, or trades specified in or authorised by its rules. The members of a society benefit from the protection of limited liability ...
that sought, starting in August 2007, to recruit at least 50,000
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
enthusiasts from across the world to purchase an English association football club. MyFootballClub's premise is to allow its paid members to control the club through a democratic voting process conducted over the
internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
. Member voting includes matters both on the pitch, such as team selection and player transfers, and off the field, like what type of food to serve at the stadium. From 2008 to 2013, MyFootballClub owned 75% of
Ebbsfleet United F.C. Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. The club compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1946 from the merg ...
With its purchase of a majority share of Ebbsfleet United, MyFootballClub became the first online community to fully run a professional sports club in history.


Background

MyFC was engineered by former football journalist Will Brooks. Brooks initially estimated MyFC's purchase fund at £1,375,000 if 50,000 people were to sign up as members. All members have voting rights on certain decisions in the club purchased by MyFC and they will collectively manage that club, by making many of the decisions usually made by the
manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...
and others, through a voting system on the MyFootballClub website. However, they do not actually hold any shares. The watershed figure of 50,000 registrations expressing interest in participation was passed on 31 July 2007, with a total of 53,051 registrations completed at that time. At that point, MyFC began collecting payments from those who had registered as well as any new people who signed up subsequently, opening what MyFootballClub described as "phase 2". Paid-up members would participate in a non-binding vote on takeover preference, with
Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...
initially leading the member voting, followed by
Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...
and
Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...
. Brooks had said that the club purchased would likely be playing in
Football League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English Football League (EFL ...
or the
Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...
, and MyFootballClub's managers had opened talks with a number of clubs from those leagues. Negotiations between MyFC and various football clubs remained secret during this period due to the confidential nature of the purchase discussions and because of the number of different clubs involved. Also around this time,
EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they imitated real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) ...
, the sports simulation video games division of
Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...
, agreed to a deal with MyFootballClub that "will be supporting us with a significant investment" to boost the group's football club purchasing fund. On 6 August 2007 it was revealed that four clubs had approached MyFootballClub about the possibility of a sale. Shortly thereafter,
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
reported that MyFootballClub had raised approximately £500,000 in the first 20 days it had been collecting funds from members to purchase a football club. On 3 September 2007 it was reported that Halifax Town had approached MyFootballClub in an attempt to save the football club from a winding-up order over unpaid taxes. In May 2008, it became public that the other two clubs besides Ebbsfleet United that MyFC had come closest to purchasing were League Two's
Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...
and
Leigh RMI Leigh Genesis Football Club, formerly known as Horwich RMI (Railway Mechanics Institute) and Leigh RMI, is an English amateur association football club that currently plays in the South Lancashire Counties Football League. The semi-professional ...
, then of the
Conference North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 o ...
.


Ebbsfleet United

On 13 November 2007, MyFootballClub announced that it had agreed in principle to purchase
Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...
club
Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. The club compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1946 from the merger ...
, which had been known as Gravesend & Northfleet F.C. until early in 2007. Ebbsfleet United was chosen out of the nine football clubs that approached MyFC about a possible purchase. A process of due diligence was entered into, with "lawyers and the accountants...looking through the books and the accounts to make sure there are no skeletons in the cupboards."


Takeover

On 16 January 2008, MyFootballClub publicly announced the terms of its proposed purchase of Ebbsfleet United and put the terms of the sale to a vote of its members. MyFC members had seven days to register their opinion on the club's £635,000 takeover. For the sale to be finalised, 50% of the votes cast had to be in favour, with no
quorum A quorum is the minimum number of members of a group necessary to constitute the group at a meeting. In a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature), a quorum is necessary to conduct the business of ...
required. 18,112 MyFootballClub members voted on the takeover, with 95.89% (17,368 members) in favour of purchasing a controlling stake in Ebbsfleet United. Ebbsfleet United manager at the time Liam Daish voiced his support for the deal soon after it was publicly announced. Speaking on the official Ebbsfleet United website, Daish said:
"Everyone has worked wonders to get this club into the top half of the Conference. We all agree the club needs something extra to take it to the next step. As a football fan, I think the MyFootballClub idea is fantastic. And as the coach, I look forward to the challenge of working with thousands of members to produce a winning team. Alan Kimble and myself are 100% committed to making this work."
Opinions on the proposed deal were mixed, as Daish's view was echoed by some football fans, but others, including some people currently involved with the sport, were less sanguine about MyFootballClub's involvement with Ebbsfleet United. Even some football insiders were positive about MyFC's proposed purchase of Ebbsfleet, however, including a representative of
Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...
, who told
CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
that the deal was "a very positive move for football because the club is owned by people who have real passion for it."


Decision-making

Following the approval of the purchase of Ebbsfleet United by the members of MyFC in January 2008, the leadership of MyFootballClub stated that its members would be able to make decisions affecting the club in future, including picking the starting lineup for matches, but a later members' vote resulted in a decision to leave selection issues to head coach Liam Daish. Ebbsfleet United's first trip to
Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...
, and victory in the 2008
FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...
added to the publicity for the project, but questions about an internet society owning a football club remained. In August 2008, members of MyFootballClub were presented with the type of choice usually reserved for small board of directors: whether to approve a
transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies * ...
of a player to another club. Ebbsfleet received a £140,000 offer from an unnamed club for forward John Akinde, and as the members of MyFC are the legal owners of the Fleet, they voted on whether to accept that offer. Shortly after the vote for members was publicly announced, it was reported that
Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...
side
Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...
had made the offer for Akinde. On 29 August 2008, MyFC members approved Akinde's transfer by more than an 82% majority. Over time, fewer decisions were put to members, and of less impact at the club.


Membership decline

Even as early as September 2008, commentators noted that participation in votes on the MyFC website had decreased since the initial takeover decision, raising concerns about the ability of MyFootballClub to cover the continued losses at the club.. It was reported in November 2009 that an estimated 23,000 members that had originally signed up prior to the takeover of Ebbsfleet F.C. no longer visited the site, nor contributed towards memberships, leaving around 9,000 active members. By February 2010, the time of the next renewal date for the bulk of the members, it emerged that the renewal rate had fallen to 20% leaving around 5000 members. In the close season prior to the 2012–13 season, the MyFootballClub Society membership stood at roughly 1300. A significant drop from the 32,000 peak, but the community remained active in supporting the club both financially and in terms of time. An example of this continued contribution to the club was in June 2012, where the society paid for a new piece of important equipment for the groundsman Peter Norton. Even with the £150,000 realised from the Akinde transfer, plus possible add-on fees, Ebbsfleet faced estimated annual losses of approximately £800,000, and their financial situation remained precarious notwithstanding the investment of funds from MyFC. As well as suffering a decline in membership, relations between MyFootballClub and the club had deteriorated by November 2012.


Handover

By the beginning of 2013, MyFootballClub were considering options for relinquishing their shareholding in the club. In April, with the threat of administration, a takeover bid by Spain-based Carlos Kabir Karani was considered and approved in principle by both the Fleet Trust and MyFootballClub. Kevin Rye of
Supporters Direct Supporters Direct was an umbrella organisation set up originally by the British government (with cross-party support) to provide support and assistance for its member trusts to secure a greater level of accountability and deliver democratic rep ...
was highly dismissive of the bid, claiming it was "back-of-a-fag-packet stuff", and critical of both MyFootballClub and the Fleet Trust:
"To hear a supporter say MyFootballClub are preventing investment from someone shows the desperation people are in and exposes the way that club is being run, which is not in a sustainable way. They have got to get a grip of that business rather than run after a guy who is promising four-year contracts and saying it's okay. It is one of the worst proposals I have ever seen put to anyone."
After Karani's bid stalled, MyFootballClub voted to hand over control to the supporter's trust but this still would have left a shortfall of £100,000 in order to avoid administration. A subsequent takeover bid from KEH Sports Limited, a Kuwaiti-based consortium, offered to clear the urgent debts and set a £100,000 transfer budget for the 2013–14 season, as well as committing to construction of a new stand at Stonebridge Road. This was approved by MyFootballClub members vote as well as the Fleet Trust and completed by the end of May.


Performance

During MyFootballClub's control Ebbsfleet was relegated to the
Conference South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 of the NLS and sixth-highest ti ...
in 2009-10 but was promoted back to the national level at the first time of asking in the 2010–11 and in the 2011–12 season finished a respectable 14th. Ebbsfleet won the
FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...
for the first time in the club's history in May 2008, months after the MyFootballClub takeover, with the club's support at Wembley apparently boosted to 25,000 by new fans. By the time MyFootballClub members voted to sell the club in early 2013, membership numbers had dropped to 1,000 and fans were protesting against its continued involvement as the club stood on the verge of administration.


Post-Ebbsfleet

MyFootballClub received a "modest sum" from the sale of Ebbsfleet United, and in May 2013 were considering options for the Society, including sponsorship of a club or partial ownership.


Slough Town

Following the sale of
Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. The club compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1946 from the merger ...
, MyFootballClub were approached by a number of football clubs that were seeking a sponsorship agreement. The teams that were considered by the members were Slough Town, Leamington, Cleethorpes Town, Chichester City, Southam United and
South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...
. Following a number of votes, Slough Town were selected as the team that MyFootballClub would sponsor. In July 2013, a two year sponsorship deal was entered into with Slough Town. MyFootballClub agreed to have their name as sponsors on the front of the Slough Town away strip, and on the back of the Slough Town home strip. In addition, members are receiving monthly updates from the joint managers and chairman of Slough Town, as well as video highlights of Slough Town's games. MyFootballclub continued their involvement with Slough Town in season 2015–16 as they renewed their sponsorship of the away shirt.


Membership and worldwide reach

MyFootballClub members came from over 70 countries. One of the regions in which MyFootballClub was most popular was
Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...
, and by the end of October 2007, MyFC had 380 paying members from Norway, 280 from Sweden, 97 from Finland, and 88 from Denmark. By January 2008, over 1,500 Americans had become paid members of MyFootballClub. Additionally, non-English members of MyFC began to attend matches of Ebbsfleet United. For example, on 5 January 2008, at Ebbsfleet's home match against Weymouth, MyFC members that hailed from
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
,
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
, and
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
were in attendance. Media outlets from all over the world have also showed interest in the project, including news organizations from Australia, Chile, Germany, India, Italy, Sweden, the United States, and Vietnam. By 14 May 2008, paid-up membership in MyFC reached 30,000 people. The 31,000th paid-up member joined on 11 September 2008. The first renewal date for most members was 19 February 2009. By 23 February total membership stood at slightly less than 9,500. By March 2010, the membership total had fallen to around 4,000 and by March 2013, the membership had dropped below 1000 members


Similar projects

Projects that are similar to MyFootballClub exist in both England and in at least 11 other countries. The ownership of the semi-professional English football club Biggleswade United inaugurated myBUFC in September 2007, which aims to put the management of that club in the hands of paid-up members, both on and off the field, in a way similar to MyFootballClub. The People's Club was launched in October 2007 and is a similar scheme looking to allow fans to acquire and run a lower-level English football club. Ownaclub.com, a comparable project founded in 2009, has a similar objective with the key difference being that rather than requiring fans to pay an annual subscription, a one-off payment secures a permanent share of any acquired club. One of the latest projects in the UK is Mydalefc, planning to start a new
Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...
based football club on level 10 of the
English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the ...
, the project starting March 2013 asks fans to contribute £20 allowing them to help make decisions about the club ahead of its registering with the Surrey County Football Association, planned to happen between late 2014 and early 2015. The fans are planned to own at least a 20% share in the club, Mydalefc plans to have 500 to 1000 payments, giving the club £10,000 to £20,000 from fan payments only. Another UK-based project is Fivepoundfootballclub, an active community which aims to take charge of a lower league club in the UK, excluding England due to the higher cost required for success in that country. Members are required to donate £5 to the investment fund on joining. As of June 2011, this community had drawn up a shortlist for investment consisting of four clubs in the Welsh League system. Projects outside the UK include: *
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
: TRAVANCORE ROYAL SPORTS SOCIETY in India is behind India's first fan owned football club Travancore Royals, TRAVANCORE ROYALS was officially inaugurated on 28 November 2018 and is based in Trivandrum, Kerala, India. Sports and Management Research Institute (SMRI) are the promoters of fans owned football clubs in Asia. *
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
: MTDF, or "Meu Time de Futebol," was launched in January 2008 with the aim of acquiring a club in the second tier of
Brazilian football Football is the most popular sport in Brazil and a prominent part of the country's national identity. The Brazil national football team has won the FIFA World Cup five times, the most of any team, in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002. Brazil an ...
by the end of 2008. *
Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
: Mitsuperligahold, which was launched in August 2007 with the aim of acquiring a club in the second tier of professional Danish football, the
First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...
. *
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
: Web F.C. allows its members, called "entraînautes," to vote on strategic and tactical decisions relating to a lower-level French club in the Ligue de Basse-Normandie through a website. Unlike MyFootballClub's members, members of Web F.C. do not have to pay a fee to participate in the decision-making, but the more they participate, the more value his or her vote is accorded. ** The founder of Web F.C., Frédéric Gauquelin, later set up United Managers. 2,000 subscribers manage Avant-Garde Caennaise in the 6th Tier of the French football league system#Regional leagues of the French football league system. *
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
: Deinfussballclub.de was launched in April 2008 with the aim of acquiring 49% of
SC Fortuna Köln SC Fortuna Köln is a German association football club based in the city of Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. History The club was formed as on 21 February 1948 through the merger of three local sides: Victoria Köln 1911 (one of two clubs to ...
; a club that plays in the German Oberliga Nordrhein-Westfalen, a lower-level professional league. deinclub.tc-freisenbruch by TC Freisenbruch, a club which was founded in
Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...
in 1902 and is managed completely by the fans. The team currently plays in the ninth division of the
German football league The German Football League (GFL) is a professional American football league in Germany. The league was formed in 1979. In 1999, the league changed to its current name from American-Football-Bundesliga.
. Since July 2016, the club is managed via a webpage, where the fans can make their decisions about, for example, the starting line-up or the prices for the jersey. For a small amount of money once a month, the fans become "team managers" (''not'' members of TC Freisenbruch) on this webpage and are a part of Germany's most exciting football project. They get exclusive information about the team, video and photo material and of course also data from performance tests or training sessions. It is also the decision of the fans to dismiss the manager of the club. At the moment, the team is trained by Mike Möllensiep. *
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
: Web2Sport currently operates
Hapoel Kiryat Shalom Hapoel Kiryat Shalom F.C. () is an Israeli association football, football club based in the Kiryat Shalom neighborhood of Tel Aviv. The club is notable for being the first domestic interactive fan-managed sports society, as almost all playing-rel ...
, a
Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...
club that plays in
Liga Gimel Liga Gimel (, lit. ''League C'') is, since 2009, the fifth and bottom division of Israeli football league system, Israeli Football League. From Liga Alef and downwards, including Liga Gimel, each league is separated by region. History Liga Gimel ...
, the sixth tier of Israeli football. Web2Sport allows voting on numerous club functions, including the composition of the club's starting lineup. *
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
: Squadramia, which was started in January 2008, is an online community that seeks 20,000 members to buy an
Italian football Football ( ) is the most popular sport in Italy. The Italy national football team have won the FIFA World Cup four times (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), trailing only Brazil (with five), runners-up in two finals both against Brazil, (1970, 1994) and ...
club. In late 2008 the web community purchased Santarcangelo Calcio 1926 a team in the Italian Serie D, the fifth tier of the Italian football system. *
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
:
Fujieda MYFC are a Japanese professional football club based in Fujieda, Shizuoka. They currently play in J2 League, the Japanese second tier of professional football. It was previously funded by online subscribers and was the first of its kind in Japan. Th ...
is a team funded by online subscribers and currently play in the
J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yasud ...
. The team which is based in Fujieda, Shizuoka, is the first of its kind in Japan. *
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
: KupimyKlub.pl is a Polish project, was launched in May 2008. The purchase of the club is planned for season 2008/09 in the Polish league. *
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
: Clubulmeudefotbal started on 7 July 2007 as an online community that seeks 50,000 members that are willing to pay an annual membership fee of 50 Euros and aims to buy a Romanian football club. *
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
: MyFootballClub.ru has a proposed start date of 2007-12-10, but is not affiliated with MyFC. *
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
: miclubdefutbol.com proposes to raise funds and buy a Spanish lower league club, as does Mi Equipo Favorito, which was launched in January 2008 with the aim of acquiring a club in a Spanish league. *
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
: In 2007, two efforts to crowd-own a team were underway, but have since become dormant: MySoccerClubUSA, which would have allowed fans who pay a fee to join a website which will start a club from scratch to play in either the
United Soccer Leagues United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...
(USL) or the
National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's association football, soccer league. The league is officially affiliated to the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) and has automatic qualification for the U.S. Open Cup. ...
(NPSL), and SaveTheVictory.org, which attempted to raise enough money to purchase the now-defunct
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
-based USL club,
California Victory The California Victory was a USL First Division professional soccer team based in San Francisco, California. It was an expansion team for the 2007 season, but ceased operation in September of that year after parent club Deportivo Alavés withdre ...
.


See also

*
Crowdsourcing Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digit ...
* Tuangou *
Wisdom of Crowds ''The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations'', published in 2004, is a book written by James Surowiecki about the aggregation of information in groups, ...


References

{{reflist, 2


External links


Ebbsfleet United Official SiteMyFootballClub Official Site
Ebbsfleet United F.C. Co-operatives in the United Kingdom Football organisations in England Association football websites Internet properties established in 2007