International football fans are to be given the chance to buy into part-time Irish Premiership club Carrick Rangers by American company, Fan Owned Club.
Carrick hope the pioneering strategic alliance will elevate the presence of the east Antrim club in North America.
FOC will play a pivotal role in providing an array of marketing, merchandising and commercial services.
They claim that they will usher the Northern Ireland Football League outfit into the lucrative US market.
The organisation, who say they offer supporters the opportunity to “get behind the scenes” and “enjoy insider access” are already involved with a club in Austria.
American businessman Michael Smith became a majority shareholder in Carrick Rangers in September.
“We crowdfunded our first team in Austria in 2019, we progressed nicely, and about 14 months ago, we started to look around and decided we wanted to give more fans this type of experience,” Fan Owned Club Founder Steve Paris told BBC Sport NI.
“We considered who we would partner with and Northern Ireland popped immediately as a potential partner.
“We felt like the league is historic, it’s undervalued and probably underappreciated on this side of the pond so we were really excited and as we started to do our work Carrick became a clear favourite to partner with.”
More to follow.
