How a Hong Kong startup is serving football enthusiasts
Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted to play football but found all your grown-up friends busy working overtime, leaving you no one to play with?
Well, do not despair. Freekick, a Hong Kong-based football teaming-up and match-making platform, is here to serve you.
Founded in 2017 by four football enthusiasts, the online platform helps users to team up with others and organize football games, while also providing a one-stop service from venue booking to equipment arrangement.
“We know what football enthusiasts, like us, exactly need,” said co-founder Kwok Chi-kit. “Freekick allows individual users to join football games, at soccer pitches in multiple districts across the city, with simply a few clicks on our online platform.”
With its webpage platform, mobile application and social media channel, Freekick allows users to register for football games, after which the platform would team up individual users and organize games at users’ preferred time and location.
It also reserves the football pitch in advance for the games and arranges for equipment, including footballs and jerseys, at the game, saving users’ time and efforts.
According to Kwok, during the peak summer season, Freekick hosts up to three games a day, normally at evenings and nights, catering to the demands of those who want to play football after class or work.
Once confirmed with the football game arrangement, the platform will charge users a “registration fee” through credit cards or bank transfers, helping avoid appointment no-shows.
Kwok said the platform has now expanded into e-commerce, selling sports-related equipment and appliances, such as knee pads and football boots, on its webpage, as it seeks to establish partnerships with sports brands.
Moving forward, it plans to deploy artificial intelligence-powered technology in its mobile application, analyzing data in relation to consumer behavior and browsing habits, as well as football skills.
This article appeared in the Hong Kong Economic Journal on Oct 1
Translation by Ben Ng with additional reporting
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