Nasdaq Inc. will enter a new type of stock trading in a deal with Football Index to provide the company—which sells futures based on the performance of professional soccer players—to buy and sell shares in pro soccer players.
Customers receive dividends based on statistics such as goals, assists and clean sheets, with each player’s share price rising and falling based on supply and demand, the company said in a press release.
Paul McKeown, senior vice president and head of marketplace operators and new markets at Nasdaq said that the deal is part of the company’s move into areas outside of conventional stock markets.
“The concept of what a market is has radically evolved over the past few years, something that Nasdaq as an operator and builder of markets has played an important part of first-hand,” McKeown said in the release. “We are focused on democratizing marketplace technology by offering essential components of matching engine technology traditionally used by financial markets, and bringing the capabilities to a cross-asset, cross-industry environment via the cloud. Football Index will use our matching engine technology to provide their clients with a platform to revolutionize how fixed-odds betting operates.”
Football Index founder and chief executive Adam Cole described Nasdaq as a “legendary brand”.
“We’re very proud and excited to work with them to provide our order matching service, which is the powerhouse of any exchange,” he said. “Football Index has come a very long way in a short period of time. Our relationship with Nasdaq is another major step in our journey to establish Football Index as a world-class exchange, worthy of the world’s top footballers that are traded on it.”
