Bundesliga, Germany’s leading football-league has decided to join the NFT bandwagon. Bundesliga is now part of a list of other top football leagues that have hopped on to the NFT bandwagon.
Bundesliga’s commercial division announced that it is entering into a 2-year partnership with Sorare, which is a football focused platform for NFTs. Topps the sports collection company is also a part of the partnership.
Top football players such as Antoine Griezmann and Gerard Pique are strategic investors in Sorare. Sorare has been lately enjoying a bull run and this commercial partnership positions it favorably to become the top football-focused NFT platform.
Bundesliga – Sorare Partnership
Sorare, in a series-B funding led by SoftBank raised $650 million. The platform has a five-a-side fantasy football game. Based on the Ethereum blockchain it allows players to form a team by purchasing digital trading cards of footballers. ERC 721 NFTs are the digital cards which can be validated publicly on the Ethereum blockchain.
The Bundesliga- Sorare partnership fructified after an extensive 18-month evaluation of the NFT market. Bundesliga’s 2-year partnership will enable it to understand the market better.
Bundesliga plans to use the Sorare partnership to sell digital cards of players. By the time the partnership ends after its 2-year term, Bundesliga will be better placed to decide on the best way to take it forward commercially.
In addition to the partnership with Sorare, Bundesliga also upgraded its existing partnership with Topps to also include digital trading cards. Topps which sells sports collectibles has entered the NFTs space and will be selling digital cards of players and games highlights.
This arrangement is not the first sports-NFT partnership. FC Barcelona had also earlier a similar partnership in the NFT space, but the deal was cancelled later.
