In a first of its kind move, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has signed a four-year partnership agreement with the India's leading fantasy sports provider Dream11.
Dream11 is a big name in the fantasy sports industry in this country. Having offered fantasy contests in sports like cricket, football, kabaddi and even basketball at some point, Dream11 then decided on an exciting expansion by including hockey in this list too.
Dream11 is now in the tops, having grown steadily over the years.The company has seen a successful year, with a lot of advancements in 2018. They recently signed a 5-year partnership deal with the International Cricket Council (ICC), apex governing body of cricket. MS Dhoni also jumped on the Dream11 wagon earlier this year as their brand ambassador.
Along with this, Dream11 has already been an official partner of various other professional sporting leagues such as the Hero CPL (cricket), Hero ISL (football), and currently, the National Basketball Association (basketball).
Over the 2019-2022 cycle, Dream11 will develop and operate official fantasy games relating to all FIH events that include FIH Pro League (2019-22), FIH Series Finals (2019 and 2021), Olympic Qualifiers Men & Women (2019) and World Cups of both Men and Women (until 2022).
This partnership has already kicked-off with the Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018. Hockey fans in India will get the unique opportunity to select their fantasy hockey teams for all FIH global matches, getting to select their favourite players as well.
All major sporting leagues also actively look for partnerships with fantasy sports sites as over the years, which has become the primary source of fan engagement for them. With this development, the fantasy sports scene in India has already gained a lot of pace and can dominate in world markets too. Expect many more partnerships for Dream11, considering their recent $100 million investment from Tencent Holdings.
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