World Cup fans will now be able to trade fantasy contracts based on the 2002 soccer tournament over the Internet with the launch of a new Web site, tradeworldcup.com.
The site has been launched by sports trading exchange intrade on behalf of Yahoo!, the official online sports information provider for the Fifa World Cup, as a no risk educational tool for sports fans and gamers who have yet to experience in-game sports trading.
Ron Bernstein, CEO of intrade, explains: "tradeworldcup.com is all about interactive fantasy trading. The idea is to generate as much 'cash' as possible by trading contracts on the outcome of individual matches during the game as well as on the outcome of the tournament as it unfolds."
Tradeworldcup.com players start with Y$5,000 in fantasy cash to trade with and then have the opportunity to trade all of the listed contracts including the featured match of the day as well as the group winners and ultimately the tournament winner.
Bob Slinn, business development manager, Yahoo! UK & Ireland, comments: "With the time matches are being played, the Internet will really come into its own as a medium for fans to interact with this summer's big event. This game is part of a great package we're offering our English and Irish football fans to bring all the excitement of the World Cup home."
Since the launch of intrade last August, football has been a major sport for trading with over £15 million in risk traded on 1,500,000 contracts.