Over 5,000 virtual match tickets sold! Thank you all involved especially the kind supporters of @SpursOfficial 🙌

Time to give our virtual ticket holders a match preview of our team and tactics! Don't tell anybody!

When we started @CourtsideVC in 2016, the biggest question we faced was "Can you really generate venture returns investing in sports?". 5 years later, we have enough data to share. This is the story of how we turned our passion for sports into a business.
👇👇👇👇 👇 👇

First, some context. When I started my sports analytics software company in 2009, I was unable to raise a single dollar in venture capital. I ended up having to cobble together $10K, $25K and $100K checks from individuals to get things going.

At the time, there were no venture funds focused on this space and generalist VCs simply did not believe in the market size of sports companies. As a result, almost all of them ran to the hills when they heard the word "sports".

Even when we got to ~$10M in recurring revenue, there was nobody knocking on our door to try and give us growth capital to see if we could build something big. Ultimately, this forced us to sell short to private equity guys who destroyed the business.

Fast forward to 2016 and we felt the sports, fitness and gaming markets were on the verge of exploding - these were three places where the next generation was spending its money & yet there were no early stage funds setup to fund these entrepreneurs and strategically open doors.

Thread:

Tweaks, mistakes and ideas.

Man Utd 3 v 2 Liverpool — Tactics #MUFC
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In this thread, we'll look at couple of the highlights and tactical tweaks both teams used to attack each other. We'll look at Man Utd's mistakes that lead to the goals as well. #MUFC

Right from the off, Liverpool looked to hurt United with quick switches of play to catch out their out of possession 442 setup. A quick switched ball from Robertson to TAA catches Rashford, Shaw and Maguire OOP & force them to adjust quickly. Rashford is vital here for TAA's run.

United looked to do the same but with Rashford. Switch the play or drag Liverpool out, find Rashford, and Rashford looks for Cavani and/or Greenwood. Liverpool adopt a very highline as they usually have the possession, so this can be exploited heavily. LIV: 442 OOP. #MUFC

Notice where Firmino is. Liverpool used the same idea of overloading the midfield to create 4v3. United adapted at Anfield and had one of the wingers tuck when the ball is on the far-side. Look at Rashford. #MUFC

Thread⬇️

Advantages and disadvantages of various formation in football.

🔘4-4-2

🔘4-2-3-1

🔘4-2-2-2

🔘4-3-3

The Story Of Biafra Football Club (1969- 1978)

By Bianca Odumegwu Ojukwu

Indeed there was a country... and there was also the Biafra Football Club.

In the dying months of the breakaway Republic of Biafra, a group of idealistic young football lovers gathered together

in Valls, Barcelona (Spain) to honour the heroic struggle of The Biafrans .

They created a symbolic pennant and founded the Biafra Football club in order to draw world attention to the plight of Biafra, using one of the most potent methods known to humanity.

Football.

CF Biafra had about a hundred players from Reus to Pla, from Nulles to Tarragona they settled in El Vilar, within the federated amateur league and rode all the way to the Third Regional League.

Half a century later, the golden anniversary of the Biafra football club

was celebrated.

Though now extinct, Biafra , to those idealistic young men, was a mirror for their own struggles . In their perception, their own region of Catalunya ( Catalonia) was going through the same situation at the hands of the Spanish government as Biafra was

experiencing, at the hands of the Nigerian government.

They found a common bond and affinity with the Biafra struggle through the formation of the Biafra football club in Valls.

The club existed until 1978 when its activities were truncated by lack of economic resources.