2023-06-17 19:56:34
A clock on one of the sides of the enormous room shows the countdown, 15 minutes, while the command arrives on the mobile phone: “Table number 32”. And there, face to face and for a time limited to a quarter of an hour, the representative of Real Oviedo meets with, let’s say, a Norwegian club. After the short meeting, an acoustic signal indicates the change of table and a new location arrives on the mobile phone: “Table number 12”. And during the same period, the blue representative talks with a sports director of a club, for example, Argentina. It is about ‘speed dating’ (quick dates) applied to football and its promoters ensure that many of these encounters end in sudden love.
The dating system is just one more branch of what it offers TransferRoom, the fashion tool in the world of the uncontrollable football market. A fast, intuitive and direct system that allows in a simple glance on the mobile look for attractive footballers. The way of contacting and the spirit of the application means that it is known in this world as “the Tinder of football”, as remarked by a sports director who has experimented with the tool.
A total of 12 Spanish professional football teams have an account in TransferRoom: the Barça, Athletic, Getafe, Oviedo, Almeria, Valladolid, Elche, Alabès, Levante, Zaragoza, Leganés and Malaga. In total, there are 700 clubs from 100 leagues spread over 60 different countries.
A “like” to a footballer
A “like” to a footballerBut what comes before these crowd dates? How does the application work? Clubs can put in the showcase any footballer they don’t have and set a price from your mobile. They can also search for interesting players according to some previous filters.
They even receive offers of agents and other equipment that with the flick of a finger will become the start of a beautiful story or go straight to the trash. A gesture on the screen dictates a sentence: towards the right, ‘interest’: the football match; to the left, ‘dismissed’: we keep looking. TrasferRoom cuts to the chase. Like Tinder.
This is one of the main goals of the tool: facilitate direct contact and avoid intermediaries. “As a consumer I saw how eBay and Amazon have transformed the way society buys. Compared to these sectors, the football market is anchored in the past”, he explains to the newspaper La Nueva España, of the Prensa Ibérica group, Jonas Ankersenfounder and CEO of TransferRoom.
This approach led Ankersen to study in depth how to improve market conditions: «My research showed that the buying clubs they were not clear which players were available to be signed, and that the sellers did not know which profiles the buyers were looking for.’
The sale of Cornud and the interest in Bretones
The sale of Cornud and the interest in BretonesOviedo has been using the tool for two years, they explain, from a more passive role, without publicly showing its plans. But that doesn’t prevent it from receiving international interest in some of its players.
“Compared to eBay or Amazon, the football market seems anchored in the past”
It happened to him with Pierre Cornud. The first contact between the Maccabi Haifa, from Israel, and Oviedo came through TransferRoom. Afterwards, talks continued directly between club leaders for an operation that allowed the Blues to enter 300.000 euros.
The example of 10 million
The example of 10 millionTo explain the process, The anchor gives a specific case, the one that brought the Brazilian Evander, del Danish Midtjyllandal Portland Timbers, of the North American MLS. “Portland shared in the application the criteria for searching for a footballer. Midtjylland received an alert in real time indicating that one of their players, midfielder Evander, met these conditions,” explains Ankersen. The operation ended up being closed by 10 million eurosin the top 10 most expensive MLS signings.
“The magic of TransferRoom is that it allows information to be shared with other clubs and agents with the push of a button», highlights Ankersen, who talks about over 3,000 transfers since its launch in 2017 and lists the most expensive ones: Carlos Alcarazfrom Racing de Avellaneda to Southampton for 14 million euros; Ejukefrom Heerenven to CSKA by 11.5, and the already mentionedEvander.
The head of TransferRoom quotes the Brighton i el Brentfordboth from the Premier League, as the most active clubs on the platform and relates another brand: “The record since a team puts a player in the window and receives the interest of another club is 20 seconds».
His famous quotes
His famous quotesAnd there are the encounters, of course, crowned with ‘speed dating’, in which the opportunity opens up to tighten ties with various clubs. Two or three are organized per season in a hotel. A few months ago, a London, where Oviedo was present. Another took place in Madrid, at the hotel. The next one will be next week São PauloBrazil.
Mass gatherings are of 15 minutes. “The idea of limiting it to 15 minutes is to encourage people to be concise and to the point. They are not there to chat, but to do business”, explains Ankersen.
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