Football CEO gaming app lets fans run their own club

Vi-Ability, winner of the Prime Minister’s Big Society Award and 2015 Social Enterprise of the Year, has today taken a further step in its mission to use sport to motivate a generation to get back into work, with the launch of a new app, Football CEO™.

Football CEO™ is a fun and transformative training game, which explores the challenges of running a football club to give users the chance to see if they can take a failing football club to the top of the league and nurture a thriving business within the community.

The app not only helps users learn crucial business skills, but also has all the elements of an engrossing and engaging football game, so will also appeal to wider football and gaming fans. From hiring and firing managers, balancing the books, dealing with players, negotiating contracts, securing sponsorship, setting ticket and food prices, keeping the fans happy and looking after your own stress and fitness levels, Football CEO™ provides an immersive experience of life at the helm of a sports club.

Business advice is provided throughout the game, guiding users through the complexities of running a business but also giving them a taste of the type of training they would receive from a Vi-Ability training course.

Kelly Davies, Founder and CEO of Vi-Ability and former Arsenal, Liverpool and Wales footballer, comments: “The launch of Football CEO™ marks a significant step forward for our mission to use sports to help people develop employability and life skills. This app is not only available to the general public but will form a key teaching tool that can be used in the day-to-day delivery of our programmes. We’re delighted to be able to use technology in an entertaining way to help motivate people back into work and we hope it has a real impact on those who use it.”

Vi-Ability provides opportunities for people of all ages to develop skills by offering training, work experience and qualifications in commercial sports management. The initiative places young people in football clubs to help provide them with new skills and the opportunity to gain experience while the club, as a business, gets a vital boost.

Vi-Ability has launched Football CEO™ to further help them tackle the community issues – of economic inactivity and youth disengagement through football. To date, the social enterprise has changed the lives of 3,000 individuals and over the next five years, they aim to develop 200 new community sports hubs across eight different countries, with the hope to change 10,000 lives.

To download Football CEO™ search ‘Football CEO™’ online or via the app store and Google Play Store on your smartphone. Football CEO™ pro is £1.99 and all proceeds from the game are invested back into the business to help Vi-Ability change more lives and communities for the better.

For more information, please visit http://footballceo.org

You can buy the App on iTunes and Google Play.