Premier League footballers will feature on non-fungible tokens (NFTs) after the English top flight signed a multi-year deal with French fantasy sports platform Sorare on Monday.
Every Premier League player will feature in the new Ethereum-powered digital offerings, adding to existing tokens from other European leagues, including Spain’s LaLiga, Germany’s Bundesliga and Italy’s Serie A, which Sorare is already partnered with.
The deal was set to be worth £30mln annually, according to an October Sky News report, and has been on the cards for Sorare for several years - though the UK Gambling Commission has been investigating the Paris-based company over whether it requires a gambling licence.
Sorare, which encourages users to trade and build teams with its digital player cards, has generated more than €150mln in annual revenue and was valued at US$4.3bn at its last funding round in 2021.
Sorare chief executive Nicolas Julia commented: "This partnership is something we’ve dreamt of since we founded the business.
“It’s a major milestone for us as we pursue our goal to build a compelling global sports community for fans."
“The way that supporters follow their favourite teams and players is evolving and the Premier League is always looking for ways to engage with fans,” added Richard Masters, Chief Executive of the Premier League.
Users are able to build teams of five players and compete in virtual competitions for financial prizes, including cryptocurrency Ethereum, Sorare said.
Sorare, which attracted US$680mln at a 2021 funding round led by SoftBank, also has deals with the NBA and MLB.
NFTs saw a sharp drop in popularity over the past year, which led to sport memorabilia retailer Fanatics to sell its full 60% stake in its own NFT firm Candy Digital earlier this month.
“NFTs are unlikely to be sustainable or profitable as a standalone business,” said executive chairman Michael Rubin, hinting to the burst excitement bubble around the digital tokens.
In the NFT sports market, Premier League club tokens were also among the worst performers last year, according to Trading Browser guide.
Tokens featuring Leeds, Everton and Aston Villa were in the top five losers, seeing values drop 88%, 82% and 72.6% in 2022 respectively.
Arsenal tokens fell by 38.4%, despite the club sitting in first place in the league.