Mumbai: JSW Sports, the sporting arm of the $23 billion JSW Group, has announced that it would be part of One Future Football’s (1FF) first-of-its-kind global, digital football league, as one of its founding members. The competition, which kicks off later this month, will see over 250 players from around the world compete in a groundbreaking tournament, where all teams and athletes have been created for the online space.
JSW Sports’ side, named Bengaluru Phoenix FC, is co-owned by Indian footballers Sunil Chhetri, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Sandesh Jhingan and cricketers Dhruv Jurel and Shafali Verma, is the only Indian team in the league. One of 12 teams in total, owners in the One Future Football League include Chris Smalling, Jesse Lingard, Patrice Evra, Naomi Osaka, Nick Kyrgios and Kamaru Usman.
“At JSW Sports, our constant endeavour is to push the boundaries of sport, and One Future Football’s digital football league gives us the opportunity to do just that. The potential of Artificial Intelligence in sports is endless, and we are really eager to see this partnership develop. Our sports teams have seen much success in the real world, and we’re hoping that they are able to pick up some silverware in the 1FF League too,” said JSW Sports lead - strategy and legal Karan Bharadwaj.
A 1FF season lasts three months, with 11 weeks of regular rounds, followed by a finals week of play-offs and the grand finale. In keeping with attracting and engaging younger audiences, matches are streamed for free via eight-to-ten-minute highlight packages across social media.
The sport is powered by two unique artificial intelligence (AI) engines - one in-game and one outside of the field of play. The former determines thousands of outcomes per minute as the teams battle it out on the pitch whilst the latter (a narrative engine) establishes real-world situations for players outside of match days - positive scenarios like visiting charitable causes to more controversial ones like teammates fighting in training. These give 1FF a whole ecosystem for fans to fully immerse themselves in.
“The 1FF team has been working incredibly hard to build a tangible league that appeals to supporters all around the world - wherever they are from. As football fans we see the trends of young people not being able to connect with the sport owing to factors such as the inaccessibility and rising costs of supporting a stadium football team. When you also consider football’s increasing social and environmental impact on the planet we believed something had to be done, otherwise there is a real risk of losing a whole generation of fans,” said One Future Football CEO and co-founder Pete Davis.
The 11 other teams joining Bengaluru Phoenix FC are FC Angelenos (Los Angeles, USA), Naija United (Nigeria), Bondi FC (Australia), Clube de Futebol Brasil Amazônia (Brazil), Club Sportivo Palermo (Argentina), Inter Nusantara FC (Indonesia), Manhattan FC (USA), Paris St-Denis FC (France), Riyadh Stars FC (Saudi Arabia), South London United FC (England) and Tokyo Youth Club (Japan).
Each club has its own bespoke crest, kit and player roster as well as ownership from a-list talent who will lend their own expertise and access to their audiences. More information on 1FF and its League are available on onefuturefootball.com.
