Footbalistic, a startup aiming to build the definitive source of statistics and media for soccer fans (football fans if you're outside the United States), said today that it has inked two important deals -- one raising $500,000 of funding, another agreeing to provide analytical tools to RMC, the top French sports radio station.
Chief executive and cofounder Stephane Delbecque said the San Francisco company was founded by soccer fans because there was no site around to answer the questions they had, like "Where did these two players play together before?" or "Who was the top European scorer in 2008?" So Footbalistic has built technology to aggregate the data that's publicly available and also automatically correct the many mistakes that have crept into the numbers. The site provides profiles of players and teams with key statistics, plus news, photos, and related posts on Twitter.
Until now, Delbecque said soccer has been dominated by sites that aren't data-driven, and whose popularity tends to vary between countries -- ESPN.com is an example in the US. Many of those sites want to make deals to get access to Footbalistic's analysis, he said. The company built customized data mining and analysis features for RMC, and is ready to do the same for other media outlets. Delbecque added that unlike most other sites, he hopes Footbalistic can have global appeal.
Footbalistic is likely to see a big spike in traffic in the coming month, with soccer's biggest event, the World Cup, beginning on June 11. Tying into the event, Footbalistic announced today that it has built a complete library of facts and media about the World Cup, going back to the competition's inception in 1930. The company also announced a Firefox plugin that allows users to search Footbalistic from their browser toolbar. It will start rolling out some basic social networking features for its users later this month, and Delbecque said the company is also working to create versions of the site aimed at visitors on mobile phones.
The funding comes from angel investors including Eric Di Benedetto, and the round is still open to new backers, Delbecque said. Footbalistic has also added a number of advisors to its board, including former President of the United States Soccer Federation Bob Contiguglia, and Andrew Anker, an executive vice president at blogging technology company Six Apart.
Oh, and a note about the site name. Delbecque acknowledged there's a risk that it might be confusing to US visitors, where the sport is known to most people as soccer. He sounded hopeful that it won't be an issue, since serious fans call the sport football even in the United States. But as a precaution the company also owns socceristic.com.