From my experience people looking for specific football players are mostly readers. In fact the books do a good job of spotting who the people like the most and give out cashbacks and betting offers something like “If Wayne Rooney scores, BookX will refund all losing bets on bla bla markets”.
This has a better converting potential, than a story about Rooney, or his performance in his first Euro 2012 match. This may differ from site to site, but these are my personal observations.