La Liga to launch NFT collection that features every player in the league

La Liga has become the first of Europe’s five leading leagues to offer an NFT collection of all players that play in the league.

The Spanish league partnered with fantasy football platform Sorare to launch the collection, which will feature the best players from top Spanish clubs Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid alongside the other 17 clubs that play in La Liga. The partnership will also include players from LaLiga Smartbank, Spain’s second division league.

Through the NFT collection, La Liga fans, collectors and fantasy football players will be able to own, trade and play with their favourite players from La Liga. Sorare noted that their ambition with the collection is to build “the game within the game” and “give fans the platform to celebrate, share and own their football passion”.

The NFT collection also presents new opportunities to create new revenue streams for La Liga Clubs via a new category of licences and help La Liga expand their international brands by tapping into the global audience of  2.7b people that regularly watch Spanish football.

Javier Tebas, the President of LaLiga, spoke of the appeal of NFTs in building a global audience and how they can offer fans new experiences.

“At La Liga 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,” said Tebas.

“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.”

Bringing fantasy football to the blockchain

Sorare’s collection of cards are NFTs, meaning that each card is unique and scarce, with ownership verifiable via the blockchain.

To use the cards, “Managers” create lineups that consist of 5 players and enter tournaments to play against competing teams.

Every player in the collection has 100 Rare cards, 10 Super Rare cards, and a single Unique card. The most expensive card on the platform is a Cristiano Ronaldo “unique”, which has a record sale of €245k.

Their current roster of 155 football clubs in the world under license includes a majority of the world’s top 100 clubs, including Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus.

CEO and co-founder of Sorare, Nicolas Julia, expanded on the La Liga partnership and how the collection will impact fans.

“NFTs are the future of global sports fandom because they allow fans to come together and to feel ownership of the sports they love,” he said.

“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.”

Looking forward, Sorare plans to partner with every one of the world’s top 20 football leagues by the end of 2022 and bring blockchain-based fantasy football to every football fan around the world.

Cryptocurrency sponsorships are now gradually becoming more prevalent in the football industry, with clubs eager to integrate NFTs and sponsorships deals with their clubs.

FC Nantes recently partnered with Tezos to launch their own collection NFT-based merchandise whilst Italian club Inter Milan signed a multi-year product deal with Zytara to increase their global brand presence.