Football Index names Brian Mattingley as non-executive chairman as it makes hattrick of board appointments

Football Index has bolstered its management team with the appointment of highly experienced trio Brian Mattingley, Andrew Burns and Mark Blandford.

Mattingley will combine his role with that of non-executive chairman of 888 Holdings plc, where he was previously both vice chairman and CEO. He previously held a number of senior executive positions at Gala Group and in large-scale retail, at Kingfisher, Carrefour Limited, The Dee Corporation and Gateway.

Burns joins as group chief financial officer from Consolidated Growth Limited, a natural resource exploration company in West Africa and Zimbabwe. Prior to this, he was CFO for AIM-listed Camec and Empire Online, then the world’s second-largest poker platform, as well as at FTSE-250-listed Luminar plc. Burns also worked in the betting and gaming industry at Rank Group and originally qualified with Price Waterhouse as a chartered accountant.

Also bringing a wealth of experience to the revolutionary platform, which gives users the ability to buy, sell and build a portfolio of players, is cornerstone investor Blandford, who becomes a board advisor.

Blandford was one of the first entrepreneurs to develop the online gaming market in the mid-1990s. As founder and CEO of Sportingbet, he built the bookmaker to a peak market capitalisation of more than £2 billion. Blandford is a hugely successful private equity investor in a number of industries, specifically in gaming and fintech. He is a founding partner of Burlywood Capital LLP.

Adam Cole, Football Index founder and CEO, said: “These board appointments are a real statement of intent for Football Index. We are adding a wealth of skills, knowledge and experience from the betting and gaming industry and beyond that will be invaluable in helping determine our future strategy and progress.”

Brian Mattingley, Football Index non-executive chairman, said: “Football Index has proven to be a genuine industry disruptor. It is exciting to join the board of a company with such an innovative proposition that has a dedicated following and rapidly expanding user base.

“I look forward, along with Andrew and Mark, to adding further expertise to the current board and management team and helping continue to grow the Football Index offering.”

Football Index is owned by BetIndex Limited, a privately owned Jersey based gambling operator established in 2015. Both the UK Gambling Commission and Jersey Gambling Commission have granted operator licenses to the company which is challenging the conventional ‘event’ based outcomes in traditional gambling products.