AOL UK launches FanHouse Sports Site for Premier League Fans

LONDON, July 31 – AOL UK today announced the launch of its new sports site, FanHouse UK, http://football.fanhouse.co.uk, providing unique commentary and insight by established writers on the latest English Premier League action. These include writer and strategist Alastair Campbell - best known for his role as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman.

The new site follows the successful U.S. rollout of FanHouse, http://www.fanhouse.com, in January and extends the sports brand into this key market with unique, exclusive and timely UK Premier League football news, analysis and commentary.

AOL’s new sports destination for passionate football fans goes after the stories behind the stories, both on and off the field with live blogging and in-depth games coverage. The new site also provides a platform for fans to exchange ideas, invite discussion and debate around the day’s top football news and trends in the game.

An essential online destination for passionate Premier League football fans, FanHouse UK offers exclusive, informed insight from an expanding line-up of more than 15 established journalists and writers who have their fingers on the pulse of the game. As a FanHouse UK columnist, Alastair Campbell will chronicle the fortunes of Burnley Football Club, the team he has passionately followed since he was four and has been promoted back into the Premier League after a 33-year absence.
 
“AOL has had tremendous success this year in growing FanHouse to become one of the premier brands in online sports media. FanHouse delivers high-quality reporting, commentary and analysis, with a unique and diverse set of voices that make FanHouse a daily must-read for any serious fan. We are delighted to be launching FanHouse's brand in the UK with a dedicated English Premier League offering,” said Bill Wilson, President of AOL Media.

The new site also features:

• On The Bench: Assessing today’s players on the bench to find tomorrow’s stars
• Transfer Gossip: Keeping fans updated on all the latest transfer speculation
• Key football results and standings from the Premier League.
• Team of the Week: FanHouse names the top team based on their performance. 

“With the launch of FanHouse UK we are delivering expert insight into every corner of the most exciting football league on the planet. This original and compelling content complements our already extensive UK and European football coverage, making it a must-read destination for true football fans,” said Rohit Agarwal, AOL Europe’s Head of Marketing and Innovation.
 
Other leading leagues and sports will be added to FanHouse UK’s content offering in future.

As part of AOL Media’s strategy to appeal to the broadest audience possible via the launch and growth of strong online content brands, it has also announced the return of AOL Fantasy Football, http://aol.co.uk/fantasyfootball, ahead of the new Barclays Premier League season’s kick-off on August 15. The free online game allows football fans to build their own virtual team made up of Premier League players and pit their managerial skills against thousands of other fantasy managers as well as their friends in an attempt to win the coveted £5,000 grand prize.

With a virtual budget of £55 million, fantasy managers will have to use all their football knowledge to assemble the best possible team from over 400 Premier League footballers to form a squad of 11 players in a 4-4-2 or 5-3-2 formation. Managers are allowed 6 transfers during and unlimited transfers between game periods to reshape their team as required – a move that will make it important to keep up to speed with injury news, suspensions and real life transfers throughout the season.

Notes to editors:

From the first kick-off until the end of the Barclays Premier League season, fantasy managers will earn points based on the performance of their players in real life league matches. Players score points by playing, scoring goals, providing assists. Defensive players are rewarded for clean sheets, but will be penalised for a leaky defensive. All players will have points deducted for yellow and red cards.

AOL Fantasy Football, http://aol.co.uk/fantasyfootball, is available via WAP and also offers players the chance to create their own private league with just their friends and features a regular newsletter sent to all fantasy managers to keep track of their scores.

About AOL

AOL is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. AOL LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. with employees in 18 countries across the globe.