Football: Smiley Faces All Round as Football Stars Launch Emoji App

The IOS app is the brainchild of Ryan Bertrand and business partner, Louis Bell, with whom he founded Silicon Markets, a fintech brokerage based in London; Bertrand explained ‘We had seen a range of emoji apps enter the market and it struck us that nothing like this existed in football. We are privileged to have fans who are hugely passionate about their favourite teams and players, so we wanted to create something that will help them mark this support in a new and fun way.’

Chelsea captain John Terry and Southampton defender Jose Fonte have also backed the venture. Terry said ‘I had seen emoji apps for sport in the US and thought they were a great idea. Consequently, when Ryan told me about his plans to launch Footiemoji, I was on board immediately. I really hope the fans like it as much as I do.’

The app is available worldwide now through the Apple store. Initially targeting fans of the Premier League, Footiemoji is looking to expand the service rapidly to meet the expected demand throughout the summer prompted first by the European Championship's and then the Copa America.

Bertrand concluded ‘Emojis have become part of everyday communication for lots of people so we worked hard to create Footiemoji as we want to provide fans with a completely new way to show off their passion for football.

Quite simply, we hope people using Footimoji have a lot of fun with it. http://apple.co/1YTz41m’

For more information visit www.footiemoji.com