Digital collectibles platform Sorare announced a partnership with the Royal Belgian Football Association to license collectible cards as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of the current national football team players. Belgium’s top football league, the Jupiler Pro League, is also part of Sorare’s network.
Sorare supports a fantasy football game on blockchain that has become increasingly popular over the past year. The project currently has 140 teams licensed and according to Dapp Radar, it has accounted for almost $88 million across 452,746 sales (through primary and secondary sales) and over 25,000 traders. $70 million of those sales occurred since January of this year.
There is a weekly game on the platform and users set up a squad of five players with the cards they have. The performance of the line up corresponds with the performance of the actual players on the field. The game is very appealing for football fans because they can win rewards, including cryptocurrency, that they can exchange for real money. For clubs, Sorare gives a reason for fans to attentively and enthusiastically follow the game, which can increase engagement, interest, and future spending on the teams.
The national player cards will exist in addition to team player cards. If a Belgium player plays for Real Madrid, for example, part of the 111 limited supply of the player’s cards will be national team cards. It is unclear how the performance of these cards will be measured when national teams are not active.
Belgium’s football association is the third national group to announce a partnership with Sorare, following in the footsteps of France and Germany. It seems that more nations are looking to announce partnerships with the company during the Euro 2020 championship. Sorare has previously hinted at supporting a Euro 2020 football fantasy game, although the championship is almost at its halfway point and many nations have been eliminated.
It is worth noting that the announcement was made on Friday, two days before Belgium played Portugal in the round of 16 and came out with a win. Had Belgium lost, the cards could have become less valuable for a Euro 2020 fantasy football game.
“Today’s news is another major milestone for Sorare. The RBFA is the 3rd football association joining us,” said Sorare’s CEO Nicolas Julia. “We’re proud to have the golden Belgium generation available on Sorare. We believe they have very strong chances of winning this European competition and the next world cup.”
Sorare raised $4 million in seed funding almost one year ago, and six months later managed to raise $50 million. The company also welcomed Liverpool to its network this year.