Ojeaga Joseph

A TOOL FOR SOCIAL INCLUSION IN THE FOOTBALL WORLD The beautiful game of football is considered as the most inclusive sport in the world, it is the universal language of millions of people, and has touched the lives of so many across the globe, breaking barriers of race, economic status, religion and culture. As a result of its far reaching influence, it has recorded astronomical growth over the years; which can be credited to the increasing number of children, and adolescents that tread the career path of professional football. Passionate fans of football clubs, diligently following the progress of their teams in various football leagues, have also contributed to the growth of football. Every country has a professional football league, although certain leagues such as: the English Premier League, the Spanish La Liga, the German Bundesliga, the French Ligue1, and Italy’s Serie A are regarded as the top leagues; due to the top quality football, on display in the these leagues for fans to watch. On the business side, they have recorded increase in revenue over the past 15 years, thereby attracting more investors; the European football market grew to €16.9 billion in 2016/17 despite challenging economic times. Thanks to the enormous financial efforts dedicated to these leagues, they are able to keep attracting all the attention, leaving the fans in awe of the glitz, and glamour surrounding their favourite clubs. However the downside to this is: the spotlight never shines on the less privileged half of the football world, made up of underdeveloped football academies, youth leagues, and amateur clubs, with little or no access to the resources readily available to the top leagues. As inclusive as football is, factors such as: lack of finance, lack of infrastructure, and unconducive socio-political climate hinders children, adolescents, and amateur clubs in some parts of the world from accessing mainstream football, thereby excluding them. This problem leaves the door open for concerned individuals and organizations to take steps towards the social inclusion of those excluded from mainstream football. The term social inclusion simply means the positive steps an organization can take to combat the risk of individuals or communities being excluded from mainstream society. The Netscouter’s platform will serve as a tool, for the social inclusion of all those excluded from the football world, by exposing young footballing talents and amateur teams to the big wigs in the football world like the professional clubs, agents, and sponsors. Netscouter also offers amateur clubs, and young talents innovative forms of sourcing for funds; since funding has always been a major obstacle for those who want to be involved in football, but don’t have the opportunity to do so. Netscouter provides the amateur clubs, brands, agents, professional clubs, and young talents with a blockchain, smart-contract based platform where information can be easily accessed, the system analyzes player performance, and automatically sends information about the best players to the professional clubs; agents will also have access to the statistics of these players that stand out, and decide whether to represent them, while big brands will have their choice pick of the new generation of football stars they wish to sponsor. Netscouter’s platform makes use of a pay per view system, payment is made by parties interested in viewing player’s profile, as well as following the progress of such players; with 70% of such payments going directly to the amateur clubs. It also uses an integrated video streaming platform that allows amateur clubs have their own channel, viewers would use pay per view or streaming to watch contents available on the platform; thereby creating new revenue streams for the clubs, and providing them with the means to engage fans around the world. Single players on the platform can use it in the same way that the amateur clubs do, by simply promoting himself, and accepting the community evaluation. This gives the player the opportunity to earn money needed to support his career, and which can also be spent within the Netscouters community. Netscouters coins are utility tokens ERC20 based on Ethereum blockchain, two types of tokens with the same value will be generated by Netscouter, and they include: the ICO Token [OutInv] which would be given to the investors, and the Platform Token [OutCoin] that will be used in the Nescouters marketplace. Users will have a simple hardware wallet that secures Crypto coins, and movements between them from hackers and thieves. Netscouter’s platform with the use of blockchain technology, will be a decentralized and transparent marketplace for all affiliated with the football world, empowering all those who have before now been hindered from chasing their dreams of participating in football, by giving them access to global financing.