All Things Football Index.
Q- How are prices affected?
A- Simply put: lots of people buy the player, his price goes up. Lots of people sell, his price goes down. What drives people to do this, however, is more complex. It'll usually be based on two things though- expected growth/decline, and expected dividend return.
Q- Who are the best people to follow on Twitter?
A- A dangerous question. There's a lot of 'self promotion' of players, meaning that some of the big hitters try and influence the market. To me, and a few others, @_FIGuide seems pretty knowledgeable, impartial and always willing to help people get started. He hosts the FI podcasts and has some useful YouTube vids too.
Q- I can trust people on the forum, right?..
A- Wrong. Only a handful of people here will be completely unbiased in their opinions. Remember, we all hold players, and all want their movements on the market to benefit us. People will promote their own holds in many ways, or bad mouth players they want people to sell in the hope their prices drop and they can get them cheap. Cynical view, or not, this is human nature.
Tread carefully, and ALWAYS do your own research. That said, this is only when discussing who to buy- not all members are evil and there's some great advice kicking about.
Q- When will I get my referral bonus?
A- Your friend, colleague, or randomer, needs to deposit and buy players for it to be paid. Don't forget the rollover requirements ;)
Q-My account has been suspended for ID checks. Is this normal, and how long will my account verification take?
A- All betting and gaming operators licensed by the Gambling Commission have the same responsibility to conduct Know Your Customer checks. This as part of age, identity and funds verification checks.
Football Index will attempt to electronically verify your account where possible. If you do not pass this process Football Index will ask that you send them copies of certain documents (see below). Adding more and more funds can also eventually trigger a check.
Common reasons for failing the verification process include:
Entering incorrect name or an abbreviated version during registration;
Entering a house number and/or postcode incorrect during registration;
Entering an incorrect Date of Birth during registration;
Recent changes of address;
Residence in temporary, rented accommodation such as University Halls of Residence or HM Forces Barracks.
If Football Index are unable to verify you they will ask you to send a photocopy / scan of one document from each of the categories listed below:
Personal Identification - one Photo ID from the following list:
Passport
Driving Licence (UK only)
National Identification Card (UK only, photographic)
Address Verification - one of the following (non-electronic):
Utility Bill (less than 3 months old)
Copy of Bank Statement - (less than 3 months old)
It's then usually within 24-48 hours to bring your account back online once you have sent in your details.
It can be frustrating with know your customer checks, but it something they are required to do by law.
Q- I am a user based outside the UK is there anything I should be aware of?
A- Football Index is a UK based company and all your deposits will need made in sterling. This means you will be subject to your bank exchange rate and any fees your bank charges for the transaction. There are better services available to spend and send in foreign currencies, like Rvolut https://www.revolut.com/ . They give you the interbank exchange rate and don’t charge a fee most the time.
A second point to be aware of is while your money is in the Football Index, the real world value to you will change based on currency fluctuations that happen before you withdraw back to your home bank account. I could work in your favor or against you.
Q- Is there an app?
A- Yes. Head to the link for App Store and Google Play downloads.
http://www.footballindexapp.com/
Q- What is a Deposit Bonus?
A- Every now and again. Football Index run a deposit bonus. You get a extra 10% on everything you deposit until the end on the promotional period. Key things to note with these offers is to enter you MUST opt-in, there is a minimum deposit level of £100. The maximum bonus you can earn is £1000.
Buying/Selling
Q- What's the difference between instant sell and sell to market?
A- Instant sell means FI will buy your share(s) back for the price there. Not always the best value, but your best bet if the price is dropping fast. Sell to market is where you put your player up for sale. It'll be in a queue and, if others buy him it will be for the current buy price of the share. You may set a reserve price, The reserve price must be lower than current buy price of the share. If the price goes below the reserve price your sale order be automatically canceled. As of rigth now this doesn't alway work the way it should and your player may sell below the set reserve price, however FI have been fair in refunding the different in the rare cases this happens. Each of these is subject to commission of c.2%, which is paid after the sale
Q- Why can't I instant sell right now?
A- A couple of potential reasons. If your player's a recent IPO then you're not allowed to see for a day or two after buying. If not, then you'll probably have noticed your player's tanked in value suddenly. Well, no Instant Sell is there to limit that happening any further. FI introduce this measure to protect the market from an absolute hammering, resulting in significant volatility. It might be hurting you now but it helps protect the platform in the long term.
Q- What's a 'Tracker'?
A- A waste of time as they currently are. Don't bother. They just buy 1 share of every player in the top 10, 25, 50 or 100. They don’t track anything so a very misleading name.
Q- What's the 3 year rule?
A- A Share lasts for three (3) years from the date you place the Bet (the “Share Period”).
Upon the expiry of the Share Period, the Bet will expire – meaning that you will lose your stake and the right to participate in any Dividend. In advance of the expiry of the Share Period, it is open to you to take steps to sell the Share via the Website and/or the App and buy new Shares in the same footballer. This will result in ‘resetting’ the Share Period associated with the new Shares in that footballer.
If you have purchased Shares on different dates in the same footballer, and sell them via the Website and/or the App, the oldest Shares will be sold first. For example, if you make the following Bets via the Website and/or the App:
• 10 Shares on 1 January 2015;
• sell 5 Shares on 1 January 2016;
• buy 5 Shares on 1 January 2017; and
• sell 5 Shares on 31 December 2018,
none of your Shares would have expired because the oldest would have been sold first (the remaining 5 Shares held would last for 3 years from 1 January 2017 until 31 December 2019).
Q- The market's suddenly dropped- what do I do?!
A- Don't panic. Don't start numerous threads about a 'crash'. Firstly, you only make a loss when you sell. Secondly, crashes only happen when people panic. Only sell your players if something fundamental has changed. Ask if the reason you bought them is still relevant? Believe in the product. It's made people a lot of money, and there have been dips before. If anything, buy more of the players you want when they're cheaper!
Buzz/PB/MB/Dividends
Q- What is Pump and Dump?
A- Pump and dump is a scheme that attempts to boost the price of a player through recommendations based on false, misleading or greatly exaggerated statements. The perpetrators of these schemes already have an established position in the player and sell their positions after the hype has led to a higher player price, leaving the users they enticed in with the losses.
The favourite play things of these scammer is the super cheap players. You will see obscure players in the “riser” list all the time. Don’t blindly jump in thinking you are missing out or someone must know something you don’t. Do your own research.
Q- What is MB?
A- MB is short for Media Buzz.
Overview:
MB pays out every day with 3p for first place when PB (performance buzz) games are being played.
On none PB game days the top 3 places are paid as followed 5p for 1st, 3p for 2nd and 1p for 3rd
All players are eligible to win MB.
You have own the shares before 3pm to win MB on any given day.
The article has to contain the players whole name as per Football Index. Eg “Ronaldo” wouldn’t score any points, "Cristiano Ronaldo" would score points. This gives a massive advantage for single name players on the Football Index, eg Neymar.
RSS feeds from UK based news outlets are used to gather the articles for MB.
News feeds that get scanned for articles with players names are:
Talksport, UEFA. The FA, ESPN, FIFA, Football League, Daily Mail, Daily Star, The Times, Telegraph, Independent, Express, Guardian, Metro, Daily Mirror, BBC, Football365, Goal.com, Huffington Post, Sky Sports.
Some you will never see because they either don't use RSS feeds or exclusively use only players surnames.
News relating to illegal activity doesn’t count, it may get added but will be manually removed. (most the time)
Media Buzz is updated every 30 mins on average
The formula:
A sentiment score is used to measure the sentiment of the article. The more positive the article the more points it scores. The exact model used is AFINN-165. AFINN is a list of English words rated for valence with an integer between minus five (negative) and plus five (positive). The words have been manually labeled by Finn Årup Nielsen between 2009-2011.
There is list of 2477 words and each world has a score of between -5 and +5.
All the words are totaled and a formula applied to give the articles total score, some examples below:
Win + 4
Stunning +4
United +1
Loser -3
Lost -3
Losing -3
Injury - 2
A full list of words can be found here:
https://github.com/fnielsen/afinn/blob/master/afinn/data/AFINN-en-165.txt
Football Index adds up the scoring words, then adds 1 and times by 20 to get the final article score for positive articles.
Eg: Paul Pogba enjoying (+2) life under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and celebrates(+3) win (+4) with new haircut.
This article would have a total of 9. So we add 1 to get 10 then times by 20. Giving a total of 200.
You can’t get a minus points article. If a article puts out a negative total score, you half it, flip it to a positive number and then add 1 and times by 20 to get the total
Eg: Game abandoned (-2) after Harry Kane accidentally (-2) forgot his boots.
This article would have a total of -4. So we half it -2 then make it a positive number 2 add 1 to get 3 then times by 20. Gives a total of 60 points.
Interesting note. United give +1 which is part of the reason Manchester United player do so well with MB, because any article that has the club name in it gives them a plus 20 score boost.
Q- What is G&A / IPD?
G&A/IPD (Goals & Assists/In Play Dividends) are paid out every day.
For the first 30 days that you own a share, the following In-Play Dividends are payable:
- 1p per Goal for a Forward or Midfielder
- 2p per Goal by a Defender or Goalkeeper
- 1p per Assist by any position
- 1p for a Starting Goalkeeper Clean Sheet over the full game
Payouts will be crediting Traders’ In-Play Dividends at the end of every day, similar to Match Day Dividends and Media Dividends.. Traders must hold a share until midnight on the day of any In-Play Dividend event.
Q- What are IPOs and where can I find them?
A- IPOs (Initial Player Offering) is the process on Football Index where new footballers are introduced to the platform and are available to purchase from the market.
Traders will be informed the day before of the release what players are being promoted to the platform, and what price they will enter the market at. Traders will be able to find the list of players that are being promoted and their price on www.footballindex.news. The price of a footballer is predetermined, and this will decide whether the player will be introduced directly into the Top 200 or Squad Players.
Traders can request players to be added to the market via email to our support team at support@footballindex.co.uk or by tweeting us at @FootballIndexUK.
It with worth noting that the prices you see for the IPOs is not the price you will get because the prices move upwards in seconds. Right now the community suspects automated trading is to blame.
Q-Why are different amounts paid on different days?
A- It all depends on how many matches are being played. If there are no games eligible for PB then MB will be 5p, 3p and 1p. However, if the day has PB eligible games, it's reduced to one space of 3p for the winner.
PB payouts are staged based on how many games are played on that day, usually the highest at Weekends and European cup competitions.
Match Day Rankings is the proprietary daily monitor of footballing performance on Match Days across the top leagues in Europe (Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1), the main two European football tournaments (Champions League and Europa League) and the main two national team competitions (World Cup and European Championship) (together, ‘Eligible Competitions’). The Eligible competitions may also include additional competitions as and when they are available.
All footballers, that includes the ‘Top 200’ and ‘Squad Players’, are eligible to win Match Day Dividends.
Q- How is PB (Performance Buzz) calculated?
A- Opta provide the stats. You need to have owned the player before 15:00 on the day to be eligible for either PB or MB. The table below shows how points are calculated.
Q- Is there a way of seeing Player stats history?
A- A few different options.
Free - Matt’s Stats. A must for everyone, very useful to see how the markets are moving at a glance. Go to Matt’s thread to sign up.
https://forums.footballindex.co.uk/topic/3520/introducing-the-fi-200-fi-200x-fi-1600-matt-s-stats
Free Footy Index Scout. Have the 100% complete history of MB winners along with all PB scores, winners, a fixture planner, numerous filters by name, team, date, season, etc plus a popular free spreadsheet to download to track your portfolio and dividends, in pay dividends, etc - all completely free (previously £5 a month).
www.footyindexscout.co.uk
£5 a month (good for the big guns) FI edge - all winners, PB scores etc.
www.footballindexedge.com
Q- How do I use/access my dividends?
A- What you see as your 'dividends' on the site is just a running total of all the payouts you've had. Each night, any dividends go into your cash balance.
Strategies
Q- Who should I buy?
A- ALMOST a pointless question, as there's so many different factors to take into account. Easiest solution is to understand the buzz structures and then look at lots of players' stats to see who's likely to score highly.
Q- What are the best YouTube Channels to watch?
A- Football Index Manager - Creating videos on Football Index with a focus on in-depth analysis, player statistics, trading strategies, tips & guides.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FootballIndexManager
Twitter: @FI_Manager
Facebook: @FIManager
Football Index Guide - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBRKBjc-H8EvC15eejJc6GQ (1.8k subs)
Footy Index Scout - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPa0_uGMI-cKV0pJ3sO1QBw (1.3k subs)
Official Football Index - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJnWCt9AsO26URfblgpFm5A (1k subs)
Q- What Podcasts can to I listen to?
A- Only one, the undisputed FIG
listen:👂🔗 https://footballindexguidepodcast.fireside.fm/64
🍎 iTunes/iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/football-index-podcast/id1291934749?mt=2&i=1000427114377&fbclid=IwAR1yd51KNuT_FwftUfwBA5T2aXUDDuIxKhEvNDbb4br3nZ0CRXFT4HWcA7w🍎
❇️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2qz0e8DrlbgPN1JyZHcI8S?si=j5hJOtRUSVCphR7k_Ddf4Q&fbclid=IwAR21M3R7ZlPNWwtViLz1Pd6W_DD90WVL-vWZVpbD4CTq5jcDsIMaldQ_k-w ❇️
Q-Any good websites for stats?
A- Personal favourites are whoscored.com and sofascore.com (cracking app). Both are powered by opta, so be careful of other sites that use different stats providers.
Q- Where can I get the latest football news?
A- Twitter is one of the fastest places, but with so many people you could follow it’s a minefield of false information. Below is a table of different sources ranked by reliability.
Tier 1 - Almost undisputed when discussing a Transfer Rumour. They may not be the first to discuss a rumour, but if they are talking about it; then it is almost certainly true, and possibly close to complete.
Tier 2 - Known to have current sources, but are still fallible and just short of being considered an authority on rumour discussions. However, multiple individuals or sources from this tier reporting the same rumour may indicate a strong possibility of truth to the rumour.
Tier 3 - Unreliable, and not to be trusted solo. They fall into near click-bait practices and are often fighting for relevance in a sea of rumours.
Tier 4 - Not to be trusted at all. These companies make money out of ensuring that you read them and they will make up anything to get you to harness advertising revenue.
Tier 5 - Absolute Dick Heads. Why are you even reading them for fuck sake?
Tier 1
Simon Stone (Manchester Clubs), David Ornstein (London Clubs), Adam Blackmore (Southampton) - BBC(England) / Ben Pearce (Spurs) - Freelance (England) / Mohammed Bouhafsi - RMC (France) / Mike Verweij - Telegraaf (Nederlands) / Voetbal International (Nederlands) / CMVM.pt (Portugal) / "Quakerboy"(Galatasaray) - rerererarara.net (Turkey) / Gerard Romero (Barcelona) - RAC1 (Spain) / Edu Polo - Mundo Deportivo (Spain) / Gianluca Di Marzio - Freelance/Sky Italia- (Italian related Transfers Only for Tier 1) / RTP 1(Portugal) / Alfredo Pedulla (AC Milan) - Freelance (Italy) / Romeo Agresti (Juventus) - Goal.com (Italy) / Stephan von Nocks & Frank Lußem - Kicker (Germany) / Ruhr Nachrichten (Schalke & Borrusia Dortmund) (Germany) / Craig Norwood (Manchester United) - Freelance (England) / George Caulkin (Newcastle United) - The Times (England) / Keith Downie (Newcastle United) - Sky Sports (England) / Craig Hope (Newcastle United) - Daily Mail (England) / Reviersport (Schalke) / Paris United (France) / Globoesporte (Brasil) / Adam Leventhal (Watford) - Sky Sports (England) / Paul Joyce (Liverpool & Everton) - Times (England) / James Pearce(Liverpool) - Echo (England)
Tier 2
Matt Law (Chelsea) - Telegraph (England) / James Ducker (Chelsea/Manchester Clubs) - Telegraph (England) / Bild (Germany) / COPE (Spain) / Dan Kilpatrick (Spurs) - ESPN (England/US) / Lyall Thomas (Spurs) - Sky Sports(England) / Ed Aarons (Spurs) - Guardian (England) / Sam Lee - Goal.com (England) / Martin Blackburn(Manchester City) - The Sun (England) / Simon Mullock (Manchester City) - The Mirror (England) / Lee Ryder(Newcastle United) - The Chronicle (England) / Daily Echo (Southampton) / L'Equipe (France) / Amy Lawrence(Arsenal) - Guardian (England) / Raphael Honigstein - Sky Germany (Germany) / NTVSpor (Turkey) / Serdar Saridag - Millyet (Turkey) / oJogo (Portugal) / Ahmet Ercanlar (Fenerbache) - Hürriyet Gazetesi (Turkey) / Sky Sport Italia (Italy) / LigTv (Turkey) / BeIn (Turkey) / Radio Catalunya (Barcelona) (Spain) / Radio Renascença(Portugal) / Cadena SER (Spain) / Sid Lowe - Freelance (Spain) / Leverkusener Anzeiger (Bayer Leverkusen) (Germany) / Der Westen (Germany) /
Tier 3
Telegraph (England) / Guardian (England) / Independant (England) / Sky Sports (England) / Ian Ladyman(Manchester Clubs) - The Mirror (England) / Manchester Evening News (England) / Jim White - Sky Sports(England) / ESPN (Various) / The Echo (Liverpool/Everton) (England) / Futbol Arena (Turkey) / Record (Portugal) / aBola (Portugal) / Gazzetta dello Sport (Italy) / Corriere dello Sport (Italy) / Il Tempo (Italy) / la Repubblica(Italy) / Get French Football News (France) / Le Parisien (France) / Transfer Merkezi (Turkey) / Mundo Deportivo (Spain) / Sport (Spain) / COPE (Spain) / Onda Cero (Spain) / Sport1 (Germany)
Tier 4
Paul Merson (England) / The Sun (England) / Guillem Balague (England/Spain) / Duncan Castles (England) / Metro (England) / NBC Sports (US) / Sports Witness (Various) / Marca (Spain) / AS (Spain) / Fotomaç (Turkey) / Fanatik (Turkey) / Aspor (Turkey) / Hurriyet (Turkey) / Haberturk (Turkey) / Correio da Manhã (Portugal) / Tuttosport (Italy) / Voetbalzone.nl (Nederlands) / Pierre Menes (France) / Sky Germany (Germany) / Bleacher Report (Various) / Miguel Delaney (Freelance) (England) / Andy Mitten (Manchester United) - Freelance (England) / Talksport (U.K.) / Here is the City (Manchester Clubs) (England)
Tier 5
Tancredi Palmieri / IndyKaila / Daily Star / Sqwaka / LadBible / Caught Offside / Joe.ie / Joe.co.uk / 90min / Muzzy Ozcan
Top tips
@Agatello : Who should I buy? Keepers are more or less pointless (literally) until they get their own category- steer clear. It depends on so many factors and expectations but I would say people should forget about players they admire/support (and non goalscorers but that's my personal opinion) and focus more on their stats, even if they think that player is an idiot/tosser. :-) What returns can I expect? Forget ACCA returns and think of it like the stockmarket that it is. A lot come into it thinking a 20%+ return is pointless, without realising that's incredible on an investment basis.
@Ermejo Diversify, decide what % you want on blue chips expensive players and cheaper alternatives, in most cases players are expensive for a reason as they almost guarantee returns however the % gains on price increases won’t be great, cheaper players could generate greater % gains however in most cases they will just be stagnant money not generating any profit at all, timing is crucial. Oldies can offer great returns, don’t be afraid to buy a Dani Alves and ride his PB wins for a few months, just be ready to sell before they retire or move to China/USA and the likes. Good players in real life may not necessarily be a good investment on FI, Many examples of great players available at less than £1 and with little demand.
@BL__FI Whether the player is green or red in your portfolio, if you expect their price to rise more, you should hold; if you think they're only going to be dropping in the foreseeable future, then sell. Better to take a loss in that case and reinvest what you can save from it into someone on the way up than to hang on because you don't like losing and end up selling at an even lower price when you give up on them a month later. Of course you have to judge each case individually and sometimes you need to have faith that a dip is temporary and worth holding through, but I've seen pretty much the exact phrase "I'm holding player x and I can't sell him because I have him in the red" many times and it's just wrong and losing those people money!
@AT10 Along with Twitter users also be aware many forum topics are also set up so someone can flip a player (they've got them on the sell queue already) as mentioned previously research the player yourself and figure out if there's value.
@Ermejo Start low and gain knowledge of the market and prices behaviour before investing big, There are many factors affecting prices, gauging an understanding of those will help making better educated decisions
@Stevo Avoid buying a player solely because they are playing on a single buzz day. Unless you get in really early the price will often rise and then fall quickly over 24 hours often meaning any dividends you win will be swallowed up in the decrease in value.
Also it's worth comparing a player you are considering buying against someone in a similar position. Similar age, position, club etc just to see whether they are worth what you are paying.
Lastly, not advice as such but I would higy recommend if you get chance attending one of the FI trader meets just to put names to faces from the forum. Generally everybody wants to give advice and help each other out. It's worth it for the free Peroni's if nothing else!
@Noirx4 - Do not panic sell. Unless you get out in the first 5 minutes you have missed the boat and you will sell at the bottom of the curve and get badly burnt. Hold and believe in why you bought the player and it will often work out
Beware the silly season (transfer window) players will rocket and drop like a stone so make sure you get in early or avoid a player and look for the next one. Once the deal is done players can drop by up to 25%+
@AT10 Try to get ahead of the crowd, for example if you haven't got your WC players you're probably too late? The potential PB returns will be outweighed by the drop once their team is eliminated - this is my biggest concern for new users. Once the WC is finished money will move to MB / transfer spec and the guys who have no hope of winning this will fall rapidly so have you're exit plan in place!
@Ermejo Try to predict what the market will do and get in early (either buying before others do or selling before prices are at risk of a drop. Don’t be afraid to sell and lock in profits, you haven’t won (or lost) on any trade until you sell. Can’t win them all, don’t be afraid to sell at a loss, holding the wrong players would lock valuable funds that could be used to generate profits elsewhere. Take spread into consideration, try to sell to market at most times however some players could take some time to be snatched up and Instant selling is the best route for them especially if the spread is low
@CleanShirtTrader You've only made a loss, or a profit, when you sell up. So don't panic when there's a dip, and don't get cocky when you see green. Also, be conscious of mindset: when the marked dips, it's tempting to sell. Have faith in the index and the product, and buy more of the players you want at a knockdown price. Good for your portfolio and, if everyone does this, there'll almost never be a 'crash'.
@Willie-Mink Don't rely just on historical PB data when assessing PB prospects - look at the data that sits underneath PB. For example, a player loses 15 points for being part of a losing team, and gains 18 points for being part of a winning team. That's a 33 point swing, which is highly significant. If a player has had a run of difficult games, their PB scores will look bad for this reason, and for their team being starved of the ball, etc. You will only be able to tell how well a player is performing on passes completed, tackles made etc by looking at the data underneath. This way you can spot a player performing well, despite mediocre PB scores, who will then go on to do much better for PB when a run of easier games comes up.
Top Users On The Forums.
These people have shown over time to be pretty knowledgeable and helpful, but never blindly follow anyone. No one here is fully impartial.
@CleanShirtTrader
@Noirx4
@dannypea
@johnboywalker
@Agatello
@playingcards1
@Tom77
@mike778
@ocs123
@Advinculas-Index
@Andy-M
@Lukeroro
@BL__FI
@Finlay77
@misto
@Stevo
@Valhalla
@AT10
@Indexical
@Fletch
@ScouseSte
@Wilba
@Ellisandro
@Ermejo
Q- Where can I learn more about the Football Index?
A- The Football Index has its own academy where you can learn more about the index.
http://www.footballindex.academy/
Q- I need help that I can’t find on the forum, How do I get hold of Football Index?
0800 066 2650
MON - FRI 8:30 a.m. - 8 p.m.
SAT/SUN 9:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Twiiter: @FOOTBALLINDEXCS
Email: support@footballindex.co.uk
Jargon Buster
IPO- Initial Public offering
PB- Performance Buzz
MB- Media Buzz
IS- Instant Sell
STM- Sell to Market
WC- World Cup
Spread- The difference between a player's buy and sell price
G&A / IPD - Both the same Goals & Assists / In Play Dividends
