Football fans will do anything for their team. But what if the best way to support them is not to support them at all?

Xbox partnered with Opta to create xJ (Expected Jinx), applying modern football’s stats obsession to age-old fan superstitions. 
Then challenged cursed fans to make the ultimate sacrifice: to skip their team's match and play EA FC26 on Xbox instead.

To launch, we got streamer and die-hard United fan Angryginge to test our theory at one of football’s biggest games, the Manchester derby.    

Our online xJ calculator gave supporters across Europe the chance to find out just how much of a jinx they are for their team, with prizes for the most cursed fans. 

We partnered with social channel Copa90 to bring more fans into the debate about whether jinxes are real or just superstition.

By comparing xJ scores with actual results, we created a data-driven social story that continued across multiple matchdays.