Provider’s Playbook Football™ title available to operator’s players for the very first time, providing a persistent, gamified experience based around interaction, skill development and ownership

Bingoal has become the first operator in the Netherlands to launch Playbook Football™, the next-gen real-money virtual football management betting game from Playbook Fusion.

Bingoal is a dynamic Belgian gaming brand with over 30 years of expertise, bringing its trusted sportsbook and casino experience to players in the Netherlands

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Playbook Football is a unique, real-money virtual football management betting game where players build teams, place bets, receive in-game rewards, climb divisions and compete on leaderboards.

Bingoal.nl players are the first in the Netherlands to enjoy this new concept across Casino and Sportsbook zones, with the operator benefitting from the tremendous engagement and retention stats already being generated by the game.

Steve Rogers, CEO/Founder at Playbook Fusion, said: “Bingoal is a forward-looking operator that understands bettors are seeking next-gen experiences built around interaction, skill development and ownership.

“We are thrilled to have launched Playbook Football™ in the Netherlands with them and to be able to provide their players with this immersive experience.

Dany Salmon, Casino Product Manager at Bingoal, added: “We are committed to bringing the new and exciting experiences to Bingoal players, and that’s why we wanted to be the first to launch Playbook Football™ in the Netherlands.

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“This is a unique concept that offers gamification and persistence that our bettors are seeking, and we are confident that it will resonate well with our player base across Sports and Casino verticals”.

• New Follow Player feature lets fans track their favourite footballers with real-time notifications

• Cristiano Ronaldo is most-followed globally of 590,000 players

• Expansion planned for basketball and hockey

Flashscore, the world’s most popular live scores app, has released its Follow Player functionality, allowing users to get real-time updates on their favourite football stars.

After phenomenal demand among its 100 million-plus monthly users, Flashscore has added what it calls its “flagship app enhancement of 2025”.

Fans can add up to 100 favourite players to receive updates and notifications in the same way they do with teams. Notifications include information whether the player appears in the starting lineup, goals, substitutions, red cards and post-match player rating. Notifications including assists, yellow cards, missed penalties and transfers will be released in a forthcoming update, along with players from other sports including basketball and hockey.

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Flashscore has also expanded the array of statistics available to fans to include player-focused data points, including expected goals (xG), passing accuracy and duels won.

Cristiano Ronaldo is fans’ favourite

Flashscore’s database includes almost 590,000 players and 350,000 users have already selected at least one player to follow in the past month. Users follow an average of six players – meaning about 2 million favourites in the first month.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most popular player globally is Cristiano Ronaldo, with the Portugal forward ahead of Argentina’s Lionel Messi. Spain and Barcelona teenager Lamine Yamal is third on the list, ahead of France and Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe. Jude Bellingham is the most-followed England player in 10th place on the list, behind the likes of Neymar, Vinicius Jr and Robert Lewandowski.

Among UK users, the top four most popular players are the same, with Liverpool’s Mo Salah in fifth and Chelsea’s Cole Palmer in sixth. New Liverpool signing Alexander Isak is seventh, ahead of Chelsea’s Joao Pedro in eighth and Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz in ninth.

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Flashscore is announcing the Follow Player feature ahead of tonight’s Legends Charity Game between Portugal Legends and World Legends in Lisbon. Flashscore is the official strategic partner of the match, which will feature former players, including Luis Figo, Kaka and Carles Puyol. Flashscore will provide users with real-time updates from the match, provided by Opta data from Stats Perform.

The match at Sporting’s Estádio José Alvalade has been organised by Sport Global with the aim of raising €1m for charities and serves as a spectacular curtain-raiser for the SBC Summit iGaming conference.

Tomáš Pondělík, Chief Product Officer at Flashscore, said: “This is our flagship app enhancement of the year. Fandom is evolving and we’re seeing a significant shift from fans following only their favourite teams to a deeper interest in individual players. Our community has been asking for this feature for some time but we wanted to launch it at the right moment, when we had the strongest player data on the market and a clear understanding of what fans expect. That’s why we focused on delivering fast, non-intrusive notifications during live matches, without cluttering their feed.

“We also know fans crave real insights, so we’re already working on adding more meaningful player data – from pre-match previews and live statistics to post-match ratings – giving them a richer understanding of performance. With Follow Player, fans can finally track their football heroes in real time, and this is just the beginning. We’ll be expanding to basketball and hockey later this year, alongside more notification types and new ways to explore upcoming fixtures.”

The iGaming landscape is undergoing a seismic shift, and ProgressPlay is about to raise the stakes with its industry-defining Sweepstakes Platform which is currently signing up partners. This isn’t just another gaming solution, it’s a complete commercial ecosystem engineered to propel operators straight to the forefront of the booming sweepstakes market.

What truly sets ProgressPlay apart is its end-to-end turnkey solution. Localised hosting, seamless backend integration, and white-glove launch support combine to deliver what operators crave most: a market-ready, brand-ready sweepstakes operation that goes from contract to live in weeks rather than years.

It’s this combination of speed, security, and commercial firepower that positions ProgressPlay’s solution as the new gold standard in sweepstakes gaming.

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At the heart of this innovation lies ProgressPlay’s dual-currency engine, a masterstroke of player engagement that seamlessly blends entertainment with opportunity. Players revel in the thrill of Gold Coins for pure gameplay excitement, while Sweeps Coins (completely detached from purchases) unlock real, redeemable rewards.

This dynamic system operates within a technology powerhouse, featuring military-grade geolocation tracking and instant age verification that transforms regulatory hurdles into strategic advantages for global expansion.

The platform’s formidable content arsenal brings together the elite of iGaming providers such as BetSoft, Pragmatic Play, Spinomenal and many other top-tier providers, with fresh titles injected weekly to maintain relentless player excitement.

Behind the scenes, an intelligent wallet system works tirelessly, automatically navigating the complex waters of multi-currency compliance, geo-fenced prize redemption, and real-time fraud prevention with the precision of a Swiss timepiece.

For operators ready to stake their claim in this lucrative market, ProgressPlay will be showcasing its revolutionary platform at upcoming industry events, including SBC Summit 2025 in Lisbon this September on Stand B410.

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Since 2012, ProgressPlay has been at the vanguard of iGaming innovation, powering over 250 operators worldwide with cutting-edge casino, sportsbook, bingo, and now sweepstakes solutions that redefine what’s possible in the digital gaming space.

“This launch represents far more than technological innovation,” declares ProgressPlay CEO Itai Lowenstein. “We’re rewriting the rulebook on operator success in sweepstakes gaming. From content frameworks to our player retention architecture, we’re not just providing tools, we’re building long-term winning partnerships in this high-growth sector.”