Who we are

LEAGUES has four founders: Andy, Roger, Ed and Mateo. Fate brought us together in a sort of a chained connection: Andy is Roger's brother-in-law, Roger knows Ed and Ed knows Mateo. Each of us have our own capabilities but we all bring our care and passion for mental health as the common ground for this game.

Andy

Andy retired last year after 40 years in medical research and communications. Like so many others, Andy has had a fair share of mental health issues throughout his life, but the turning point for him was realising the power he has every day to positively influence other people’s lives, be they family, friends, neighbours, colleagues, passing dog walkers or complete strangers. Small acts of kindness, the acknowledgment of others with a simple smile and a “Good morning”, costs nothing but can enhance the personal wellbeing of both the recipient and giver.

Through LEAGUES, Andy hopes to bring fun and laughter to as many lives as possible, and highlight the importance of social interaction in improving mental health.

Roger

Roger is a software developer who happens to be the brother-in-law of Andy. Andy has always been a great inventor of games which the whole family has enjoyed playing. One of those games was LEAGUES which Andy ran from a spreadsheet for his football friends. It has been a great success so Andy asked Roger if it could be put online. You are reading the results!

Ed

Ed is a passionate technologist who has spent roughly a decade building startups for McKinsey clients. With deep roots and expertise in technology, especially in user interfaces of various platforms, Ed has a big passion for the web. Beyond LEAGUES, he is also building Handover and Puffin.

Not surprisingly, Ed is also interested in football. Maybe on a different level than his passion for building products and technology, but he is keen in looking at football as a social gathering opportunity, to spend with friends whenever he can.

He grew up in a time where the teams from his country from that time (Romania) achieved some amazing results (remember Ducadam and Steaua București). He also looks back to those times as well spent to create great memories with his grandfather and his family.

Mateo

Mateo has been building digital businesses and products for most of his career. In the last couple of years, he has been at McKinsey (where he met and worked with Ed), and earlier at various financial and insurance companies. Currently, besides working on LEAGUES, he is building Handover (with Ed) and spends the majority of his time on digital product innovation in the carbon removal industry.

Even though Mateo’s family home is right next to a football field, it has taken him many years to start appreciating football. This appreciation has especially grown in the last few years with the performance of teams and players from Croatia (his home country), and with the start of work on LEAGUES.