The Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) signed a deal with Turkish blockchain startup Bitci to launch non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and fan tokens on BitciChain’s platform. The licensing contract is for three years.
Many sports teams currently have NFT and fan token deals. NFTs and fan tokens are frequently licensed to different providers since they serve different purposes and some companies specialize in commercializing only one technology. Bitci is one of the first platforms to launch both NFTs and fan tokens for the same sports entity.
NFT collectibles sometimes require a deeper financial commitment as their scarcity pushes the price up, but they enable fans to participate in collecting and trading activities and enhance the sense of community and commitment towards the club. For the clubs, NFTs provide a new line of products to commercialize and promote interest.
On the other hand, fan tokens are like the club’s cryptocurrency and are exchangeable and fungible. They are used by fans to “purchase” rewards and VIP perks such as voting on club affairs, getting exclusive merchandise, and meeting players.
The Brazilian National Football team claims to be the national team with the most fans worldwide. The new digital opportunities provided by Bitci will enable geographically distant fans to feel more connected and participative with the team.
Bitci’s NFTs for CBF will be for player cards of the current male and female teams, as well as the under 20, 17, and 15 teams.
“This partnership is a very important step to continue advancing in the digitization and internationalization of our brand,” said CBF’s Commercial Director Lorenzo Perales. “The way football is consumed is changing and entering the fan token market is a crucial step. After starting contact with the main platforms, this is possibly the most important sponsorship within the blockchain technology worldwide”.
The CBF deal with Bitci is exclusive. Therefore the organization can’t partner with other blockchain-based solutions during the life of the contract, which is unusual. It will limit CBF’s expansion in the blockchain space to the services provided by Bitci. For example, Bitci does not yet provide blockchain-based tickets.
Bitci’s other existing deals in sports, with F1 team McLaren Racing, the Spanish Football Association, the Glasgow Rangers and the Turkish National Basketball team, are all for the development and commercialization of fan tokens. McLaren has an NFT deal with Tezos.
Besides the CBF, the German Football Association also has an NFT deal with Porsche’s Fanzone NFT platform. Germany, France, and Belgium recently announced partnerships with Sorare.
