eFans Launches Sportoos, the World's First Sports Search Engine

LOS ANGELES, February 28, 2013  -- eFans (http://www.efans.com), the revolutionary social network for sports fans that connects fans across the globe with their favorite athletes and teams, today announced an important milestone in their company with the launch of Sportoos (http://www.sportoos.net), the world's first search engine specifically designed for sports fans.

Powered by eFans proprietary technology, Sportoos brings sports fans a unique and innovative search engine that delivers the sports related content they are looking for. Leveraging the efficiencies of Google search, Sportoos is able to serve users relevant sports related content while allowing them to connect with social networks relevant to their searches.

"The potential in this space is enormous. We believe Sportoos will forever change how sports fans interact with their favorite athletes, teams and each other online. This was always part of our strategy and we see search as a natural progression for us," the CEO and Founder Stephan Maric said.

The launch of Sportoos presents new revenue and channel opportunities for eFans and paves the way for their further penetration into mobile.  Maric notes that 'Sportoos is well positioned to solidify their position in the mobile market. As our users demand their social networks to be accessible by mobile, so will they expect the same level of sports related search.'

This is obviously still a Beta product, in phase one Sportoos delivers a base level sports search experience for athletes and teams. Phase two will allow users to search events, venues, apps and scores while interacting with others users. "This is our breakthrough product. Search is the future of the industry and we are thrilled to be entering the market at the perfect time' says Maric. The growth plan for eFans/Sportoos includes a launch into ten additional countries and the development of their mobile app, all in 2013.

eFans is the revolutionary social network for sports fans worldwide. eFans is the only interactive website that connects teams and athletes throughout the world, from major franchises like The Los Angeles Lakers and superstars like Leo Messi to small-town amateur teams and clubs, to their fans in a free, online community.

Jason Morais from Qatar Sports Investment named President of eFans Board

Los Angeles 07/05/2012 - eFans (www.efans.com), the revolutionary social network that connects all the fans in the world with their favorite athletes and teams, is excited to announce today its first addition to the Board of Directors when they announced Jason Morais previously with Qatar Sports Investments as the President of its Board of Directors.

Jason is a true business leader who has managed multi-million-dollar projects for Qatar Sports Investment (QSi), a prominent sports company. Jason has been involved in the media and sports business with multiple ventures in Middle East, Asia and Africa. Jason has a keen vision of what the future of sports will look like and believes eFans has the potential of becoming the premiere sports social media outlet. His knowledge and experience can only help eFans become popular worldwide.

QSi is the sports investment arm of the Qatar government and invests in sports related projects in Qatar and abroad. Last summer, it became the majority shareholder in the French football club Paris Saint-Germain. QSi was in the news earlier for its involvement with Qatar Foundation, who became the first ever sponsor on the jersey of FC Barcelona.

 QSi is also the owner of the new and upcoming sports apparel brand called BURRDA Sport which sponsors the Qatar Olympic Committee, National Football Teams of Belgium and Tunisia, Marussia Virgin F1 Racing team, popular football clubs like OGC Nice, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Al Sadd, famous Rugby teams like Northampton Saints, RC Toulonnais and Wales National Rugby League, National Handball Teams like Great Britain, USA and Egypt.

Institutions like these have put Qatar on the map for sports and prove that it's no coincidence that Qatar was awarded the right to organize the FIFA World Cup in 2022.

eFans is looking to gain exposure through its affiliation with Jason Morais and hopes it will attract users for the major sporting event of 2012 - the London Olympics. “We are thrilled to have Jason as our first person on the Board. I am sure he’ll add amazing value to the company, this is a great day for us” says Stephan Maric, the CEO and Founder of eFans.

eFans is the only interactive website that connects all the pro teams and athletes of the world, from major franchises like The Los Angeles Lakers and superstars like Leo Messi to small-town pro and amateur teams and clubs, to their fans in a free, online community.

eFans Launches New Design

Los Angeles, CA -- 03/30/2011 - eFans (www.efans.com), the revolutionary social network for sports fans, is today launching an ambitious new design that will help users have a better experience on its website. eFans is the only social network that connects all the sports fans of the world with their favorite athletes and teams. eFans is currently online in the USA, UK and Spain and plans to launch in Italy and Croatia next month with more than 10 countries coming later this year.

eFans’ new look will now make the experience of interacting with favorite athletes and teams throughout the world even easier, faster and more enriching for those exploring the website. Users can get their latest results, photos, videos, blogs and comments through Live Feed and Spots Feed streaming. The new eFans look will also make it easier for fans to view and upload photos and videos and also create new athlete and team pages, which has always been the central theme of the website. New features such as games and shops will also be available for users when visiting the site. In addition, status posts can now be done on Facebook and Twitter directly from eFans.

eFans logged more than 1,3 million visits in 2010 without any advertising. Once people came to the site, they stayed an average of 14 minutes, which beats the most prominent sports and social networking sites.

In its third year, eFans has made great strides with only a small seed investment. Despite the financial crisis, Founder and CEO Stephan Maric has found innovative ways to improve the website and is greatly encouraged by commitments from several famous sports brands to sponsor ad campaigns.

eFans is the only interactive website that includes all the pro teams and athletes of the world from major franchises like The Los Angeles Lakers and superstars like Leo Messi to small-town pro and amateur teams and clubs and their athletes. eFans exists to connect all the teams and athletes of the world, big and small, with their fans in a free, online community.

eFans launches in UK and Spain

Barcelona, Spain -- 05/12/2010 -- eFans (www.efans.com), a social network for sports fans, today announced the launch of customized sites for two of Europe’s sports-crazed countries: eFans UK and eFans Spain, all with local content and language. For the last two years, eFans has been connecting sports fans from around the globe, allowing them to share news, watch videos and chat about their teams' latest victories. Now, with sites devoted to individual countries, local teams and athletes will be featured as well encouraging more fan interaction amongst individual towns and communities.

From its office in Barcelona, Spain, eFans will be well situated to control the European versions of the website. Founder and CEO Stephan Maric feels that launching eFans sites for Spain and the UK is a crucial expansion of the business because it will include the teams and athletes from these countries that may only be popular on a local level, many of whom have strong fan bases. He adds that the vibrant pro sports activity in smaller cities and towns should not be ignored and represents many potential users and revenues. With the biggest event of all, the FIFA World Cup, just around the corner, eFans hopes these sites will dramatically increase its exposure in these two countries where soccer is king.

In addition, eFans just moved to Sunnyvale to the Plug and Play Tech Center where it will join a community of over 100 Web 2.0 start-ups. Since 2006 the Plug and Play Tech Center has helped new sites like eFans raise in excess of $450 million in venture funding. PlugandPlayTechcenter.com has become the ultimate place to launch and grow promising new technologies and eFans is counting on its new partnership to take it to the next level.

eFans is the only interactive website that includes all the pro teams and athletes of the world from major franchises like the NY Yankees to now small-town pro teams and clubs and their athletes. eFans exists to connect all pro teams and athletes of the world, big and small, with their fans in a free, online community.

eFans Captures Sports Fanatics With Social Network

Los Angeles, CA -- 09/14/09 -- eFans (www.efans.com), a social network for sports fans, today announced the re-launch of its site, bringing all forms of sports content and online activity to one location. eFans connects users with the global sports world, allowing fans from all countries to share news, watch videos and chat about their teams' latest victories.

With the NFL season kicking off and MLB playoffs just around the corner, eFans aims to connect users with athletes, sports teams and other sports fans through its network of individual and team profiles. Additionally, the site's integration with Facebook Connect allows users to share eFans content and actions with their friends on Facebook in one easy step.

"As we all know, sports is a constantly changing arena, which makes it tough to stay informed of all the latest news," said Stephan Maric, CEO and founder of eFans. "At eFans, we provide a central location for everything sports-related -- from scores, videos and news to connecting with other fans in a meaningful way. Above all else, we are working to engage those who are truly passionate about sports and want to share that passion with the world."

Sports fans, teams, leagues and athletes have proven quick adopters of social networking technologies, as demonstrated by the new NFL and MLB social media use guidelines. From Shaquille O'Neal to Kobe Bryant, athletes are using the popular micro-blogging site, Twitter, to connect with fans. In order to harness this enthusiasm, eFans has added Twitter integration to the site, allowing users to directly update their Twitter feeds from the eFans site. Additionally, a separate real-time feed for site visitors and instant chatting functionality allows individual users to connect with each other directly.

"The real-time features we have added to the site ensure eFans users can share opinions, news stories and status updates in the quickest way possible," continued Maric. "As sports fans can attest, staying connected to the latest developments in the sporting world is really the name of the game."

eFans will be adding fantasy sports features and a sports memorabilia, ticket and souvenir shop in Q4 2009.