Euro 2012, the European football championship, is just around the corner and the Netherlands is undergoing an epidemic of orange football fever. The Dutch team will be playing its first game on 9 June and from this day onwards it will be possible to coach the Dutch national coach in real time. No matter whether it’s a a clever substitution, or a player’s amazing action or choosing the man of the match – the app lets everyone express their opinion right away. This app, developed by students, scientists and marketeers at the University of Twente, gives football fans a voice and publicizes all their opinions in real time. Bearing the name CrowdCoach, the Euro 2012 app can be downloaded free of charge from the appstore (iPhone) and Play Store (Android) from 5 June onwards.
It’s a feeling you surely know: the national coach makes a decision that you think is totally wrong. All you can do is hurl your comment at the TV screen and hope in vain that the coach will think again. No-one hears your voice. But the CrowdCoach app changes all this, because it lets every Dutch citizen become the national coach. The University of Twente has conceived the app to collect the emotions (and after all, football is full of emotion) and opinions of these citizen coaches and to use them to coach the national coach Bert van Marwijk. The data rolling out of the app reflect the opinions of all the users. The statistics derived from the opinions about each footballer can be used for analyses and for scientific (social media) research.
‘Like’, ‘Kiss’ and ‘Coach Oranje to the cup’
With the CrowdCoach you can decide who the man of the match is, which player should be substituted and what the Netherlands thinks about the look of the Dutch squad. Using the app is simple. You see a list of the players on the field and a list of those on the bench. For each player you can click on one of the five available emotion icons: thumbs up, thumbs down, a kiss (this player looks good), a substitution and man of the match. During the game you can check the scores so far of the emotion icons per player. At the end of game, after ninety minutes of play, the app issues a score that is displayed in a graphic on the website crowdcoach.nl. This means the app can also be used for commentaries after the game.
High Tech Human Touch in practice
This Euro 2012 app has been initiated by the Marketing & Communication department of the University of Twente and realized by UT students and by scientists working in the field of behaviour, technology and social media. Moreover, it puts the UT slogan ‘High Tech Human Touch’ into practice. The technology behind the application has been developed by five Bachelor’s students, while the app design, the use of social media and the scientific analyses all originate from the University of Twente as well.
University of Twente
High tech, human touch. That is the University of Twente. Some 3,300 scientists and other professionals working together on cutting-edge research, innovations with real-world relevance and inspiring education for more than 9,000 students. The enterprising university encourages students to develop an entrepreneurial spirit, provides a wide range of activities for secondary schools and is a partner of Kennispark Twente.
Want to know more?
For more information please visit the website crowdcoach.nl. The CrowdCoach app can be downloaded free of charge from the appstore (iPhone) and Play Store (Android) from 5 June onwards. CrowdCoach has a Twitter account (#crowdcoach) and Facebook page as well and is also being promoted through a short film. Press contacts: Janneke van den Elshout, Press Relations Department, University of Twente. Secretariat: 053 - 489 2212.
