Ahead of the FIFA World Cup that starts later this month, Sorare has launched “Global Cup ’22”, a new free-to-play social fantasy football game.
Similar to other Sorare fantasy football competitions, the game allows players to build a 5-a-side lineup of players from 18 national football teams using NFT collectible cards and then compete in Sorare’s global tournament to win higher value Sorare cards.
The game’s name hints that it is not a FIFA-licensed game. However, Sorare has partnered with 18 of the 32 national teams that reached the World Cup finals, including Argentina, Belgium, France and Germany. This means gamers can create squads and win exclusive event collectibles. The digital collectible cards in the game feature a football player linked to a blockchain-based non-fungible tokens (NFT).
“At Sorare we are building the next sports entertainment giant, by giving fans new ways to enjoy the sports they love and connect with their favourite stars”, said Nicolas Julia, CEO and co-founder of Sorare.
While the Global Cup ’22 features national team player cards minted especially for the event, Sorare also hosts other licensed fantasy games with 300 sports teams and organizations, including LaLiga, the Bundesliga, and Serie A. It’s using the club (as opposed to the national team) player cards so that existing gamers can use them in an additional International Special Tournament that will run during the World Cup.
Since its founding in 2018, Sorare has reached over 2 million users globally. In 2021, the company was valued at $ 4 billion, after raising $680 million in a Series B round. Sorare is using the football fever around this major event to launch its first major marketing campaign, OwnYourWorld. Like some other brands using digital collectibles and targeting a mainstream audience, Sorare no longer mentions NFTs and blockchain.
An audit revealed that the 2018 FIFA World Cup brought an audience of 3.5 billion people worldwide, including those who watched the games at home. Given the anticipated audience of the 2022 World Cup, Sorare is not the only company bringing football to the blockchain. However, when it comes to fantasy games, it’s the one with the biggest blockchain track record.
Yesterday FIFA announced a raft of licensed World Cup games, and some of them are similar to Sorare’s fantasy game.
Visa announced its own campaign, partnering with Crypto.com, kicking off with an NFT auction ahead of the World Cup. Crypto.com is a sponsor of the World Cup, making the website an exclusive cryptocurrency trading platform for the tournament. And it’s also running a fantasy game.
