Fake players, real money: Melbourne’s One Future Football nets $3 million for virtual sports league

Bondi Football Club and its wunderkind striker Ash Jones will take on Futbol Club Angelenos this Saturday, marking the first One Future Football match to take place on home soil.

It doesn’t matter that Bondi Football Club doesn’t exist, nor does its American competitor.

Jones, the 18-year-old prodigy and budding climate activist, is totally made up.

One Future Football (1FF) is very real though, and the Melbourne-based startup has bagged a $3 million funding round, led by Blackbird Ventures, on the promise of a wholly virtual and globe-spanning football league.

Officially launched on Thursday, 1FF promises fans a very different kind of sporting experience: 12 fabricated teams, more than 250 imaginary players, and weekly streams of their virtual battles.

Unlike player-driven football video games like EA’s FIFA series or the cult favourite Football Manager, 1FF will show the league’s digital teams playing against themselves on YouTube and TikTok.

While Bondi Football Club, Futbol Club Angelenos, or Riyadh Stars FC may lack the culture, community heritage, and hard-earned loyalty of real football clubs, 1FF will offer fans the chance to influence each club’s decisions by purchasing virtual trading card packs.

Promotional materials promise biographies, commentary, and social media outbursts from the league’s virtual stars, adding a narrative element to 1FF, and bringing it closer to the hugely popular football manga series Blue Lock than the digital horse racing offered in pubs and TABs across the country.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGzCOixCbqQ

1FF was founded by Rohit Bhargava, founder of fashion crowdfunding platform StageLabel and business development manager for AWS’s startup team, and Peter Davis, founder of social media agency Get Glossy and accelerator Ampjar.

In a statement, Bhargava said the startup will combine elements of traditional fandom, influencer culture, and social media’s football fixation.

“As mad football fans for over 25 years, we craved a deeper connection and richer ability to engage with the team and sport we love and that’s exactly what we built,” Bhargava said.

“1FF has a unique model that for the first time allows fans to have a share of their favourite teams and players, ultimately making decisions that affect their career development and trajectory.”

The model proved enticing to Blackbird Ventures, which took particular interest in the ability of fans to buy into the 1FF ecosystem to influence each team’s actions.

“At the core of each sports fan is the desire to be an owner, to influence the decisions each club makes, and to endlessly debate the merits of each small decision,” said Niki Scevak, Blackbird Ventures co-founder and partner.

1FF also claims investment from real-world sports stars like Nick Kyrgios, and footballers Chris Smalling, Patrice Evra, and Jesse Lingard.

The virtual avatar of Bondi Football Club striker Ash Jones. Source: Supplied

The emergence of 1FF comes at a unique time for football, whose biggest stars are venerated as global icons and whose teams have become monolithic marketing vehicles.

While no 1FF team currently bears real-world sponsors, it is likely on the agenda for the founding team, as savvy brands have leveraged the sponsorships of virtual teams.

Perhaps the most notable example was Burger King’s 2019 sponsorship of the real-world Stevenage, a team battling it out on the lower rungs of England’s football ladder.

The fast food chain did not back the team for its on-field success, per se.

Rather, it took advantage of a popular video game challenge, in which FIFA players attempt to take struggling sides to the pinnacle of the sport.

Videos of FIFA players attempting the challenge with Stevenage have received hundreds of millions of views, exposing Burger King to a massive audience far beyond the team’s organic fanbase.

Whether 1FF inspires any similar partnerships will be determined by fan appetite.

Bondi Football Club and its star striker may not exist, but at least $3 million is now riding on their success.