Building a Football Game to Raise Money for Good Causes

Last Person Standing football game

Building a Football Game to Raise Money for Good Causes

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working on a small side project that combines three things I enjoy: football, technology, and building things that bring people together.

The project is a web application called Last Person Standingbased on a football game I’ve played with friends and colleagues for years. If you follow the Premier League, there’s a good chance you’ve come across it before in one form or another.

The concept is simple, which is part of the reason it works so well.

Each week, players pick one Premier League team to win from that round of fixtures.

If your team wins, you progress to the next week.

If your team draws or loses, you’re out of the game.

There’s one extra twist that makes the strategy interesting: you can only pick each team once during that game. So if you use Manchester City in week one, you cannot pick them again later. That means players need to think ahead and decide when to use the strongest teams.

The game continues week by week until only one player remains.

That person is the last one standing and wins the game.

Why I Built the App

The game itself is not new. Many football fans already play versions of it through WhatsApp groups, spreadsheets, or simple online pools.

But running it manually can get messy.

You have to collect everyone’s picks, check the results each week, eliminate players, track who has picked which teams, and keep everyone updated. When there are a lot of players involved, it quickly becomes time-consuming.

So I thought it would be a fun challenge to build a small application that automates all of that.

Players can:

• Register for the game
• Pick their team each week
• See the upcoming fixtures
• Track who is still in the competition
• See which teams they’ve already used

Behind the scenes, the app handles the rules and eliminates players automatically when their team fails to win.

Right now, the platform is still in betawhich means I’m testing features and ironing out the inevitable bugs that appear when you build something new. For the moment, entry is completely free while I gather feedback and improve the experience.

A Potential Fundraising Tool

One of the reasons I’m particularly interested in this project is the potential fundraising angle.

Many Last Person Standing competitions normally charge a small entry fee, with the winner taking the entire prize pot.

But there is another way this could work.

For example, imagine running a game to raise money for NICS Wellbeingthe community interest company my wife and I help run.

Let’s say the entry fee is £10 and twenty people join.

That would generate £200 in total.

A simple model could split the money like this:

• £100 goes into the prize pot
• £100 goes to the charity

The winner still receives a meaningful prize, and the game also raises money for a good cause.

Because the rules are simple and the weekly commitment is minimal, it is the kind of activity that people are often happy to join.

Helping Community Groups and Youth Teams

Another area where this could be useful is for grassroots sports teams and local organisations. Youth football teams, for example, are constantly raising money for things like:

• Kits and equipment
• Tournament travel costs
• Pitch hire
• Club facilities

A Last Person Standing game could be an easy way for clubs to raise funds without needing to organise large events.

Parents, friends, and supporters could join a small competition, and the entry fees could contribute towards the team’s fundraising goals.

Because the game runs over several weeks, it also keeps people engaged and talking about the team or the club.

A Possible Commercial Model

There may also be a commercial version of the platform in the future.

For example, a standard game might charge £11.50 to enterwhere:

• £10 goes into the prize pool
• £1.50 goes to the platform

That small margin would cover the costs of running the service and maintaining the application.

However, before going down that route, I will need to spend some time looking into the regulatory sideparticularly around gambling regulations in the UK. Games that involve entry fees and prize pools can sometimes fall under the oversight of the Gambling Commission, depending on how they are structured.

For now, the focus is simply on testing the idea and building the platform properly.

What Comes Next

Over the next few months, I’ll continue developing the app and adding features.

One idea I’m particularly interested in is creating special competitions for major tournamentssuch as the World Cup or the European Championships. A shorter tournament format could make for a really fun version of the game.

If it works well, I’d love to see community groups, charities, and local sports teams using it as an easy way to raise funds.

But first things first: testing.

If you enjoy football and fancy giving the beta version a try, you can check it out here:

lastpersonstanding.net

Just be warned, if your team draws, you’re out.

Useful Links

Xander’s First Season – A Proud Dad’s Reflection

Boost Your Last Person Standing Football Game Strategy with AI and Data Insights