Italy’s first division football, Serie A, has partnered with the Socios blockchain platform. Through the partnership, Socios became an Official Partner of the League and a Main Sponsor of the finals of two high profile championships, the Supercoppa Frecciarossa and Coppa Italia Frecciarossa. While Socios is best known for fan tokens, the announcement did not mention a Serie A token.
Socios, a blockchain platform for fan engagement and entertainment, started to become recognized in 2019 when it partnered with world-class football teams, including Juventus, a leading Serie A team. Since then, it has partnered with sports entities in almost every leading European soccer league, such as Manchester City, Paris Saint Germain, and Barcelona, and has expanded to the U.S. and South America.
Initially, Socios’ business strategy was based on promoting fan tokens for the clubs. The platform would sell branded tokens, which could be purchased through a digital wallet. These tokens can be used for exclusive rewards and perks from the club, such as the ability to vote on a club’s decisions and getting early access to merchandise launches. Teams have earned many millions of dollars from these token sales.
The token market prices are volatile and, to some extent, reflect fan expectations about the club’s performance or upcoming news. For example, when Messi announced he would move to Paris Saint Germain, the prices of its tokens rose sharply. Fan tokens are a type of cryptocurrency. In certain jurisdictions, particularly the United States, many crypto tokens are regarded as securities and laws are more strict about the trading of security-like assets.
Partnerships with American sports teams such as NBA’s LA Lakers, Brooklyn Nets, and LA Clippers do not currently involve the launch of fan tokens and concrete fan engagement products have yet to be announced. However, Socios has mentioned plans to get involved with non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Socios is also sponsoring Argentina’s Football first division tournament this season, Torneo Socios, but there’s also no mention of tokens.
Despite this, past partnerships with European football teams have been based on the launch of fan tokens, including a recent partnership with Italy’s national football team. The one with Serie A does not seem to have plans to launch the digital assets immediately, but Socios seems to be looking to continue introducing fan tokens into their offering.
Yesterday Socios CEO, Alexandre Dreyfus, presented the Man of the Match award to Alexis Sánchez at the Supercoppa final between Inter Milan and Juventus.
“In 2021 we grew our network by over 500% and welcomed over a million new users to our platform,” said Mr. Dreyfus. “We’ve got bigger aims for the next 12 months, so we’re delighted to begin 2022 with this major announcement that further solidifies our commitment to the Italian sports industry.”
