UEFA issues NFT tender for national team competitions
August 11 – UEFA has issued a tender for licensing rights to NFTs for national team football competitions.
Digital platforms
Socios.com buys $100m stake in Barca Studios as club accelerates Web3 and blockchain strategies
August 2 – FC Barcelona has sold a 24.5% stake in Barca Studios, the club’s digital content and distribution hub, for $100 million to blockchain technology provider Chiliz.com, owner of the Socios.com Fan Token and NFT platform.
Man City go live with Recast Channel and micro-payment revenue model
July 27 – Micro-payment streaming platform Recast has launched a Manchester City channel that is available globally and kicked off with the club’s friendly against Bayern Munich last weekend in Green Bay.
EA Sports signs Juventus in multi-year deal as FIFA franchise draws to a close
July 25 – Juventus is returning to EA Sports’ FIFA games for the FIFA 23 edition, leaving rival Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer video game where the club has been exclusive for the past three years.
Sorare signs Serie A to NFT-driven player card fantasy game
July 25 – Fantasy football game Sorare has added Italy’s Serie A to deals it holds with Spain’s LaLiga, Germany’s Bundesliga and the MLS in the US, to release non-fungible token (NFT) player cards for the coming 2022-23 season.
Serie A and OneFootball to launch 1,300-strong ‘digital moments’ collection
July 20 – The cryptocurrency crash undoubtedly slowed the growth of blockchain-based sports marketing opportunities like Fan Tokens and NFTs but a new agreement between OneFootball and Italy’s Serie A is proof of life that the digital platforms could still come roaring back.
Real Sociedad to become 6th LaLiga club on Socios.com’s crypto platform
July 13 – The noise around club Fan Tokens has died down recently following the cryptocurrency crash and criticism of the low tradeable values of the tokens. It hasn’t, however, stopped Real Sociedad becoming the seventh LaLiga club on the socios.com platform.
MLS appoints IMG Arena to build data driven content to sell to booming bookie business
July 8 – With the deregulation of the online betting business state-to-state across the US, Major League Soccer (MLS) has appointed the bookmaker sales of IMG – IMG Arena – as its official data distribution in a deal that could net the US league $270 million, according to reports.
CLV Group report finds Big 6 EPL clubs are missing £700m of revenue
June 10 – The second edition of the Fan Relationship Index (FRI) from the CLV Group finds that the big six Premier League clubs are missing out on a massive £700 million of revenue from commercial deals.
Benfica plan Fan Token launch on Socios.com platform
June 7 – Cryptocurrency might have crashed but it hasn’t stopped Portuguese giant Benfica from becoming the country’s first club to launch a Fan Token on the blockchain-powered Socios.com platform.
NuArca opens up NFTs market in Asia with EAFF championship deal
June 1 – The East Asia Football Federation (EAFF) has stuck a deal with NuArca Labs who will become the regional associations Official NFT Partner with a focus on the upcoming 2022 EAFF E-1 Football Championship to be played in Japan in July.
Topps and Ethernity warm up for Finalissima 2022 clash with NFT drops
May 30 – This Wednesday will see the Finalissima 2022 played at Wembley Stadium between South American champions Argentina and European champions Italy, a revived version of the Artemio Franchi Cup, last played in 1993.
NFTs deal fuels Bundesliga’s 280% next cycle revenue leap for stickers and trading cards
May 18 – Germany’s Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 clubs will receive more than €170 million from the 2023-24 season from the licensing of the global rights for stickers and trading cards, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
LaLiga takes major step into the metaverse with TVM
By Samindra Kunti
May 17 – La Liga has taken another big step in its bid for digital transformation by partnering with TVM, a South Korean global sports metaverse platform, in a two-and-a-half-year deal.
TopGoal links with South Korean tech giants Klatyn to take NFTs into the metaverse
May 12 – Blockchain-based football game TopGoal, which is targeted expansion in Asia, has agreed a strategic partnership with South Korea’s Klatyn Foundation, one of the country’s largest publicly traded technology companies.