Luís Figo took the stage at Web Summit in his native Portugal and launched an app for Dream Football, a platform the retired player believes will help unknown soccer players get noticed by some of the top clubs in the world.
Figo, a co-founder of Dream Football, unveiled apps for Android and iOS that will enable real-time recording from a mobile phone with a camera, editing and uploading of highlight videos for youths looking to share their videos and get evaluated.
The top 10 most viewed videos of the week get a second look from Dream Football’s professional team, and evaluation reports are then published online with the player profile. Figo then picks his top three videos and publishes his own evaluation. Clubs that have partnered with Dream Football can then know about a talent that might have been previously undiscovered.
“We are here launching the new app that we believe can create more conditions for kids that are not in the cycle of the normal scouts, that they can follow their dreams and achieve the dreams through us,” Figo said last month in Lisbon.
“Of course when you register your video and you added the best part, it doesn’t mean already that you are going to be a professional football player, but you follow your dream, and we create that tool that allows the talent not to be left behind.”
Figo said that it was a priority for the app to be “as simple as possible to use,” and it’s free to use as well. He noted that the app makes it easier to discover new talent even if the amateur player is from Australia, the United States, Japan, or Africa and isn’t associated with a federation or playing in front of scouts.
“I was in that moment when I was young,” Figo said of dreaming of a football career. “And if we can create more tools as possible for the kids to achieve that goal, we must be happy.”
