The leading French soccer team Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) is the latest European club to sign a licensing deal with Paris-based Blockchain collectible startup Sorare. The firm, supported by ConsenSys and Ubisoft offers a global fantasy football game backed by blockchain.
The blockchain forges collectible and tradable cards representing professional soccer players, which can be used to participate in the platform’s weekly league competitions. Users invest in the tokenized cards of players for their team, and depending on how the football players perform in real life, they may receive rewards in more trading cards or cryptocurrency ETH. The company’s blockchain platform uses Etherum and the digital cards use the ERC721 non-fungible token standard.
Sorare’s ambitious target of integrating the top 20 leagues in the world into their platform seems achievable given the recent announcements. But the blockchain market in the football industry is becoming ever more competitive. London-based Fantastec competes directly with Sorare and has deals with some of the game’s biggest names such as Real Madrid, Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund. Animoca Brands subsidiary Stryking, which is not limited to football, also provides a similar consumer experience through blockchain collectibles and has a deal with FC Bayern Munich. And some of the clubs licensed with Sorare, including PSG, also have contracts with Socios, a fan token platform that uses blockchain to increase teams’ engagement with supporters.
Nevertheless, Sorare currently has 100 clubs officially licensed and claims to be expanding the platform to new clubs every week. In the last year, Top Tier clubs such as Atletico Madrid, West Ham, and AS Roma have joined the platform, as well as Ronaldo’s Juventus. The three top teams in Portugal – Benfica, Sporting and Porto – are also present in the line up. More recently, Korea’s Football League K-League and Japan’s J.League have announced partnerships with Sorare.
