Where It All Started

By Dirk Menkveld on Friday, November 2, 2018

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For many years, there was no need for a parent company. Everything ran smoothly from the Netherlands.

Since 2006, we had been operating Toernooivoetbal.com from Amsterdam, covering major international football tournaments. Our Fantasy Football game focused on fans in the Netherlands who wanted to make match predictions and enjoy tournaments in a more interactive way.

At that time, one product in one country was enough.

A Turning Point

In 2016, things changed.

The Dutch national team failed to qualify for the European Championship. This had a direct impact on our platform. Growth slowed down, even though our users remained enthusiastic and continued to enjoy the game.

When the Dutch team also failed to qualify for the 2018 tournament, it became clear that relying on a single country was risky. We needed to think differently.

Looking Beyond Borders

Meanwhile, our neighbours in Belgium were thriving. The Belgian national team was performing extremely well and even reached the top position in the global football rankings.

This made expansion feel like a natural next step.

We launched:

  • Toernooivoetbal.be
  • Bedrijfspronostiek.be

Users quickly signed up, and the response was positive. This success raised an important question:

If this works in Belgium, why not in other countries too?

Soon after, we began launching platforms in:

  • The United Kingdom
  • France
  • Germany
  • Spain

Our journey from local product to international platform had begun.

The Challenge of Localisation

Expanding into new countries brought new challenges.

One of the biggest was language.

The term Fantasy Football does not mean the same thing everywhere.
In the Netherlands, people understand it as a WK Pool.
In Belgium, the same concept is known as WK Pronostiek.

Each country had its own words, habits, and expectations. We learned that localisation was not just translation — it was about explaining the concept in a way people instantly understood.

We are still improving and refining our proposition for each market today.

Why Koppa Was Born

With multiple platforms in multiple countries, it became clear that we needed a parent company.

That is how Koppa was born.

Finding a company name was not easy. After many brainstorming sessions, we decided to translate the word prediction into different languages. Eventually, we chose the Japanese version.

It was:

  • Short
  • Clear
  • International
  • And felt right

Koppa became the umbrella brand for everything we had built.

A Short History, A Long Road Ahead

What started as one platform in the Netherlands has grown into an international network of prediction games across Europe and beyond.

This is just the beginning.

Thank you for reading our story.
If you would like to get in touch, feel free to send us a message through our contact page.

We are always happy to hear from you.