Community football game using the Belgian Jupiler Pro League data.

Our client, a creative software developer based in Belgium, sought to create an online community football game centered around the Belgian Jupiler Pro League. The game would allow users to create their own leagues, teams, and players based on real-life data from the league, fostering engagement among football fans through an interactive platform.

Main features

Create Leagues and Teams: Users can create their own leagues and teams, customizing them with real-life players and team structures.
Invite Friends to a League: The game allows users to invite friends to join their custom leagues, enhancing the community aspect of the platform.
View Player List and Details: Users can browse through a list of real-life players, view detailed statistics, and make informed decisions when assembling their teams.
Player Selection with Budget Constraints: Users select players based on a virtual budget, adding a strategic layer to team building.
View Real League Schedules and Results: Users can view the schedule and results of the actual Belgian Jupiler Pro League, keeping the game closely tied to real-world events.
Team Rankings: The platform includes ranking features to track the performance of teams within user-created leagues.

Challenges

Data Integration Issues: The original plan for the game relied on a third-party API supplier to provide real-time data, including schedules, teams, players, and match results from the Belgian Jupiler Pro League. However, negotiations with the API suppliers fell through, leaving the client without a source for the necessary data. This unexpected challenge required a significant shift in the project’s approach, as the system had to be restructured to manage and maintain all data in-house.
Ensuring Real-Time Data Accuracy: Even with in-house data management, maintaining the accuracy and timeliness of real-time sports data presented a significant challenge. The data needed to be constantly updated to reflect real-world events, such as player injuries, transfers, and match outcomes, which are crucial for providing an authentic and engaging user experience. This required the development of robust systems to monitor, update, and verify data in near real-time to avoid discrepancies that could affect gameplay and user satisfaction.

Our Solutions

In-House Data Management:
We developed a robust backend using Node.js and MongoDB to manage player statistics, match schedules, and results internally. A user-friendly admin interface built with React.js enabled seamless data management, while Mongoose ensured data integrity and schema validation, maintaining high accuracy in the database.
Real-Time Data Monitoring and Automation:
We implemented automated scripts with cron jobs and web scraping using Python and BeautifulSoup to retrieve real-time data from sports databases. Selenium was used for dynamic content extraction, and a verification system allowed administrators to review updates before publication, ensuring data accuracy.
Flexible Architecture for Future Integration:
We designed the system with flexibility for future third-party API integration, using Spring Boot to create RESTful API endpoints. Docker was employed for containerization, ensuring consistent deployment and easy scalability as the system evolves.

Results

Operational Independence: By managing all data internally, the system was able to operate independently of third-party API suppliers, ensuring that the project stayed on track and met its launch timeline despite the initial setbacks. The in-house data management solution provided the client with full control over the game’s content and data accuracy.
Successful API Integration: After the project’s completion, the client finalized agreements with third-party API suppliers. We then integrated their APIs into the system, enabling automatic synchronization of real-time data. This upgrade enhanced the game’s functionality and user experience by providing up-to-date information on matches, players, and league standings.
Growing User Base: The game quickly gained popularity, amassing over 300,000 users shortly after its launch. The combination of accurate data, engaging gameplay, and community features contributed to its rapid adoption among football fans.

Developing an Online Community Football Game for the Belgian Jupiler Pro League

Community football game using the Belgian Jupiler Pro League data.

Main features

Working Months: 14

Team Size: 13

Satisfaction Score: 98%

The Screenshots

Challenges

Our Solutions

Results

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