We have become the first Premier League football club to launch a fully interactive children’s app specifically for our young supporters. Junior Gunners and young Arsenal fans globally can look forward to joining a virtual world and playing a host of fun and educational games.
Our young fans can start by creating their very own Arsenal avatar from over 174 customisation options. That’s over 15 trillion possible customisation combinations! One of the app’s most popular games is certain to be ‘Pocket Player’, featuring digital avatars of three first-team players; Hector Bellerin, Mesut Ozil and Theo Walcott.
These ‘Pocket Players’ live in four areas within a virtual Arsenal world; the changing room and pitch at Emirates Stadium, the canteen, where users can feed the players from food actually served at the Training Ground, and a bedroom.
Children can also look forward to playing 'Squad Boss', where they will manage their very own six-a-side Arsenal team throughout the season and compete against their friends. There are a number of trophies to be won by completing challenges in both of these games and other areas of the app. All the games aim to educate children and help them develop new skills.
For instance, the training element of the Pocket Player game will help them develop their hand-eye coordination, and they will learn about nutrition and healthy foods as they help fuel their Pocket Players. Some of our Junior Gunners members formed part of focus groups alongside their parents to ensure that the app was really tailored for that age group.
Aimed at children aged 4-10, the app will give our young supporters a safe environment to engage with both the club and their friends. It is a free app with no in-app purchases and operates on a closed network, so children cannot interact with strangers.
Anne-Lise Johnsen, Arsenal youth product manager, said: “With over 36,500 Junior Gunner members and even more young Arsenal fans round the world, we are proud to launch an app targeted specifically to them. We hope the Junior Gunners app will elevate the experience and engagement the club has with our fans of the future, not just here in north London, but globally.”
As one of the players featuring in the app's 'Pocket Player' game, Mesut Ozil was excited to see his virtual avatar for the first time.
“My avatar looks really good and so do Hector and Theo’s! They really look like us and I think some of our team-mates will be quite jealous. I hope the children really enjoy playing Pocket Player and all the other games on the app. I’m looking forward to having a go myself.”
The Junior Gunners app is available to download on your smartphone or tablet now via the iTunes App Store and on Google Play.
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.