Belgian Football Club Sint-Truidense Partners With Start-Up To Crowd-Fund Transfers

Belgian top flight club Sint-Truidense V.V. has partnered with Swiss start-up kickrs.net to "crowd-fund the transfers of football players," according to Samindra Kunti of INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL. Fans of STVV can invest in 18-year old Greek striker Panagiotis Kynigopoulos. STVV "returned to the elite of Belgian football this summer" after three seasons in the second division. The club has taken a "new approach to transfers" in a "groundbreaking pilot-project in Belgian football." STVV General Dir Philippe Bormans: "This way our fans can be the player agents. A fan can assess if a player is worth to invest in. I describe it as a mix of the stock market, gambling and supporting [a club]." Kickrs.net is the brainchild of its founder and current CEO Christoph Hornung. The idea "is for fans to be scouts." Hornung wants to "revolutionize the transfer business with his unconventional approach" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 8/20).