Hapoel Kiryat Shalom F.C.

Football club infobox
clubname = Hapoel Kiryat Shalom
הפועל קרית שלום


fullname = Hapoel "Easy-Forex" Kiryat Shalom
founded =
ground = Kiryat Shalom, Tel Aviv
chairman = flagicon|Israel Levi Rahmani, Salomon Harari
mgrtitle = Head Coach
manager = Yaakov Yakhri, Web2Sport.com users
league = Liga Gimel
season = 2007-08
position = 4th [ [http://eng.football.org.il/Clubs/Pages/TeamDetails.aspx?TEAM_ID=2258#LeagueDraft Israel Football Association website] ]
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pattern_la2=_blueshoulders|pattern_b2=_blueshoulders|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=0000DD|body2=0000DD|rightarm2=0000DD|shorts2=282A59|socks2=282A59

Hapoel "Easy-Forex" Kiryat Shalom F.C. ( _he. הפועל "איזי-פורקס" קרית שלום) is an Israeli football club based in Tel Aviv. Playing in Liga Gimel, the sixth level of Israeli football, they are notable for being the first interactive fan-managed sports team, as almost all playing-related decisions (such as squad selection, substitutions etc.) are taken through votes on the Web2Sport website.

Background

Web2sport was founded by Moshe Hogeg, Shimon Dor, Roy Dvora and Adam Weiss. Hogeg claimed he was inspired to do after watching Argentina striker Lionel Messi dropped for the game against Germany in the 2006 World Cup. [ [http://in.sports.yahoo.com/071024/211/6mc73.html Soccer coach replaced by fans in Israel] Yahoo News, 23 October 2007] The company purchased Hapoel Kiryat Shalom for €350,000 in June 2007. [http://www.uefa.com/magazine/news/kind=1024/newsid=608097.html Kiryat's Web Masters] UEFA Magazine, 26 October 2007]

Having previously had an average attendance of around 100, the club's first game under the new system was watched online by 6,000 people. However, the first result was a 3-2 loss to Maccabi Ironi Or Yehuda.

Decision making

Registered users of the website, of which there were around 8,000 in October 2007, [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article2733559.ece Fans pick the team as computer games turn fantasy into reality] The Times, 25 October 2007] vote on various decisions at the club:

*Between Sunday and Wednesday a vote is held on formation.
*Between Wednesday and matchday (Friday or Saturday) a vote is held on player selection
*Following squad selection, a vote is held on the designated penalty taker for the forthcoming game
*Home games are streamed live on the website, whilst there is radio commentary for away matches, [ [http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL225659920071023 Israeli soccer club puts online fans in charge] Reuters, 23 October 2007] allowing fans to vote on whether to make a substitution, and, if the vote is to do so, who to take off and bring on. Decisions are relayed to the coach as he has a laptop in the dugouts. [ [http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=631325.html Coaches: An endangered species?] FIFA, 6 November 2007]

However, in November 2007 it was discovered that opposition fans had been deliberately substituting the club's main striker, Zohar Kaminsky, during games. [ [http://www.csweekly.com/weeklyColumns/article/id/104 Club Ownership, 2.0] Chicago Sports Weekly] Following this, new guidelines on voting were announced.

ee also

*Crowdsourcing
*MyFootballClub
*Web F.C.

References

External links

* [http://www.web2sport.com Web2Sport] he icon
* [http://video.news.sky.com/skynews/video/?&videoSourceID=1289542&flashURL=/feeds/skynews/latest/flash/archive02/football_231007_0918.flv Fantasy Football Jumps To Another Level] Sky News (video)