The line-ups, the goals, the dribbles, the refereeing controversies have accompanied the football debate since time immemorial. To all this has been added an external element that, over the years, has been conquering spaces in almost all areas of this sport to become a practically essential ingredient to understand football culture in Spain. It is about the ‘Fantasy’ applications, a competitive game in which it is necessary to make an eleven for each day and in which the score depends on the real performance of the footballers. A pastime with three decades of existence in our country, exported from the United States, and that is going through its period of splendor, both among fans and among the protagonists of the dynamic themselves. An increasingly recurring theme in interviews, pre-match, post-match and in match broadcasts. Of the numerous applications offered by this type of game, the number one in Spain is ‘LaLiga Fantasy’. Made by the Spanish football association since 2015 and, for two seasons, in collaboration with ‘Relevo’, which is mainly in charge of the content of the ‘app’, the second most downloaded sports app. The organization directed by Javier Tebas is extremely satisfied with the data obtained, especially in this campaign. «It has been growing in the market significantly. The last year has seen great virality, let’s say it has become ‘mainstream’ and has had a qualitative leap,” says Alfredo Bermejo, director of Digital Strategy at LaLiga. Over one million unique users per day, three million new users this year, which represents an increase of 236%, almost five million downloads in recent months… «All the business metrics that we measure around the game have practically multiplied by two or four this season,” says Bermejo. Related news standard No Emerging disciplines But how can this be called a sport! Javier Asprón standard Yes American Football The sport that is never suspended Pablo Lodeiro FernándezA growth in which great content creators have played a prominent role, such as Ibai Llanos, ‘LaLiga Fantasy’ player, confessed through his profile on accumulates more than 16 million followers. “This phenomenon of virality has been generated around the game and the content that is created around it,” adds Bermejo. A shared sensation in ‘Relevo’. “There are many content creators who have suddenly become fond of the game and themselves have entered into a conversation that we had not planned,” defends Marcos García Merino, head of social networks for the media outlet, one more factor whose result is that «All records have been broken. What last season was the peak is now the day-to-day life of ‘Fantasy.'” Footballers and players One of the great derivatives of the growth of the application is that footballers, the main protagonists, have joined the fever for ‘ Fantasy’. Marcos Llorente and Pedri are some of those who have confessed it in public. «I have a friend who signed me recently, and I think he will be happy. “I was unaware of the fanaticism for this game, but I have started playing and now I understand all the messages I receive every weekend before the game,” said the Atlético player, while the Barça player admitted his joy for his assist and Raphinha’s goal. : “Much better, because I have myself and him in Fantasy.” “The target audience is very similar in age to the players, practically 60% of the users are between twenty and thirty-four years old, what is the age that professional footballers have. It is a very similar product in terms of age and in terms of knowledge of the medium itself – explains Bermejo. “It also promotes competitiveness and the footballers are great competitors and have a knowledge of the competition that engages them and allows them to have those interactions within the squad.” June Lavín, editor of ‘Relevo’ and ‘LaLiga Fantasy’, highlights the change in the clubs’ communication in relation to this entertainment. «This type of game has always been played in the locker rooms, but it is true that this year the teams’ communication departments have understood that, if the match and the users are there, they also have to go there. All of this has helped the game have more users each year and this year is completely crazy, in a good way,” he maintains. An overwhelming growth that also implies an increase in pressure on those in charge of making the applications work. One of the great criticisms to which they were subjected was due to the fact that a part of the footballers’ scores depended on the reporter’s assessment of their performance. Something that, since the merger of LaLiga and ‘Relevo’, they tried to avoid or, at least, reduce that area of subjectivity. “There is always controversy around all decisions. Therefore, what we try is that the entire scoring part is substantiated and as objective as possible. We have tried to avoid anything that could be a subjective score or evaluation. We have Relay points, which are defined based on objective parameters. This evolution of the model towards the scoring that we have now gives us more security and more peace of mind,” explains Bermejo. “One of the things we wanted to do was put an end to the fact that it was a person who decided how many subjective points a player had and That’s why we established the Relevo points,” adds García Merino, aware that ending the controversy is impossible. The last example was an assist from Iñaki Williams that was not counted as such and the player himself expressed his surprise. «When he passes the pass he lightly touches the defender’s foot, then Opta [la empresa que se encarga de las estadísticas] considers in those cases that it is no longer assistance. What we have tried with these types of cases, and it is also one of our functions, is to explain them. “We don’t like silence,” he says. Beyond the debate on the points, the main criticisms, disproportionate in many cases, are directed towards the protagonists and they have cried out for it. «This ‘Fantasy’ thing is starting to be dangerous. People take it very seriously and then you insult me if you pay a lot and I don’t score a goal. It’s crazy. People are losing it, when I was a little weaker due to the injury, they told me everything. I would tell you that 99% of the League players receive insults from ‘Fantasy’ fans,” argued Nico Williams in ‘El Mundo’. A complaint to which Camello, Isi and Luis García have joined. «It’s crazy. If you see all the messages I have. What a way to insult me. ‘Bastard’, ‘son of a bitch’… They give me birth. “It is better to almost not even look at them,” said the former Alavés coach. A circumstance totally rejected by those responsible for the application. «We always defend that football is a sport that is designed to be enjoyed both on and off the field of play. All those kinds of pressures for us are totally out of place. Respect is a fundamental pillar,” defends Bermejo. «I don’t want to imagine the private messages from players, coaches, etc. At ‘Relevo’ we also like to appeal to responsibility in all aspects. In the end ‘LaLiga Fantasy’ is very cool, but it’s still a game. The players are still professionals who carry out a profession every weekend and obviously many times we do not have to cross those lines,” says García Merino. Something that Lavín also suffers from due to one of the star news stories of ‘Relevo’ each week, the probable alignments, in which they reproach him for his failures. «Trying to guess the elevens of the twenty teams in the League for a matchday is not easy. There is part that you cannot control, which is usually what makes people angry, because they fail as even the most expert would fail. Furthermore, you only see the negative, the positive part of getting it right from time to time is not seen. “Risk professionIn addition to ‘LaLiga Fantasy’, the market offers a multitude of applications to enjoy this game. One of them is ‘Biwenger’, by ‘Diario As’. This ‘app’ allows users to choose a scoring system based solely on statistics or also include the opinion of a journalist, using a system of points (from 0 to 4). The chronicler of Atlético de Madrid since 2015, Patricia Cazón, was already warned of the dangerous world she was entering. «When I started, the first thing they told me was ‘you’ll see with the spades.’ I said ‘what are these people saying to me about spades?’ And of course, in the first chronicles I already understood what they were referring to,” he recalls. Cazón admits that error is part of his job, but one cannot admit crossing the line of respect, even of threat. «It’s amazing, and it’s also a shame. We get confused, like everyone else. There have been times when I have been confused and when I have seen that a lot of people respectfully tell me so, I consult it with my colleagues with whom I always discuss the ideas and change them,” to which she adds that both she and the rest from chroniclers they receive “real atrocities.” «On social networks, freedom of expression ends when you lose respect. It is something that they should control because it is terrible that anyone can tell you the atrocities that they say to us,” he concludes.
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