Fan Controlled Football: The future of sports is here.

The Fan Controlled Football (FCF) is a new indoor American football league that is recently established and is currently in its first season.

As its name suggests, the FCF puts the play decisions in the hands of fans. The decision making extends beyond the match to cover even rules changes, jersey designs and team drafts.

Essentially, the FCF is like playing football manager or fantasy football but cooler! The decisions voted by fans have a direct impact on game outcomes and more.

How it works:

To quickly summarise, Fan Controlled Football is a new fast-paced action football game with slightly different rules. It’s 7v7 football, and is played in an indoor 50-yard field.

There are two 20-minute halves with a running clock, which only stops if it fulfills any of the 10 conditions listed in the official rulebook. The break between the halves is limited to a maximum of 6-minutes. This is to try ensure that the entire game keeps to a maximum of 1 hour.

To learn more about the rules, you may refer to the official rulebook:

How do Fans Participate:

To get started, fans can log on to fcf.io to register an account. Upon registration, fans will be required to pick a team. Do note that fans cannot change teams mid-way through as bandwagon fans are discouraged.

As such, it’s probably a good idea to browse their gallery of videos on twitch or the news page prior to selecting a team.

Once you’ve picked a team and have logged into your account, you may browse the list of outstanding items that require your attention and votes. This is truly a league where the voice of the fans is most important.

Gameday happens on Saturdays at 9 am onwards and is streamed live on Twitch. During the live game, on Twitch and in the FCF app you’ll see Run or Pass when your team is on offense. Pick one, and you’ll see four diagramed play options. Lock in your favourite, get notified which play won the vote, and watch the play unfold on the field in real-time. It’s not magic, but it’s pretty damn close.

In addition to being engaged through voting, the FCF also offers “Madden view” from a drone, live stream helmet cams and mics on the players and 180 degree VR cams all over the field. This is truly the future of sports and fan engagement.

Final Thoughts

Despite failures of building football leagues outside of the NFL as seen in Alliance of American Football and the XFL, we believe that the FCF has the ingredients required to make it big.

We look forward to having more team selection and fiercer competition in the coming seasons. We also hope to see such an approach in other sports in the near future!