Spain: LaLiga becomes first major soccer league to enter NFTs, with Sorare

Fantasy football platform Sorare announced Thursday a new partnership with Spain’s LaLiga to launch non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for all of its players, thus creating new revenue streams for LaLiga Clubs via a new category of licenses. 

LaLiga fans, collectors and fantasy football players will be able to trade and play with digital cards of LaLiga’s personalities. 

This partnership, which covers both LaLiga Santander (first division) and LaLiga Smartbank (second division) implies the induction of LaLiga into the NFT space for the first time, which has sold more than $130 million in cards this year. 

Sorare cards are NFTs, meaning each card is unique, scarce and its ownership can be publicly verifiable via the blockchain. The company’s combination of NFT technology with sports cards and fantasy games is backed by football legends including Gerard Piqué, Antoine Griezmann and Rio Ferdinand.

Through the collecting, owning and trading of limited edition digital collectibles, Sorare has created a game experience where users can own their game, build real-world connections and protect and control their assets.

Through Sorare, LaLiga and its clubs will be able to expand their international brands by reaching new audiences of fans, including crypto-enthusiasts in the US and Asia, and fantasy gamers across the globe. 

The partnership opens up a new revenue stream for LaLiga clubs by creating an entirely new licensing category: NFTs. The partnership means that Sorare now has the majority of the top 100 football clubs in the world under license, including global clubs such as Liverpool FC, FC Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain FC, and Juventus FC.

This is the first deal that Sorare strikes with the league, which is home to football clubs such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Villarreal CF, Valencia CF, FC Sevilla and Real Sociedad among others. Sorare plans to partner up with every one of the world’s top 20 football leagues by the end of 2022.

In an official press release, Javier Tebas, President of LaLiga, commented on this new partnership and said: “At LaLiga we are always looking for innovative ways to offer our fans new and exciting experiences and to broaden the appeal of our competition, the greatest in the world. This partnership with Sorare, the most exciting sports NFT projects today, enables us to reach new audiences globally and gives existing fans additional ways they can get involved with the players and the clubs they love.” 

Nicolas Julia, CEO and co-founder of Sorare added: “NFTs are the future of global sports fandom because they allow fans to come together and to feel ownership of the sports they love. This partnership isn’t just a sign of Sorare’s growing leadership in the NFT sports space, it is a major signal of intent by the sporting world that it sees Sorare’s unique ability to connect fans with sports through NFTs as a crucial part of their plans for the future”, he said. 

“LaLiga is one of the best leagues in the world, home to some of the most exciting clubs and footballers on earth. We are very proud that they have become our first ever league partnership, and we are looking forward to working together in the years ahead”, he concluded.