A soccer game in which players collect and exchange their favorite players’ NFTs (non-tangible tokens) is now the entertainment industry’s most valuable startup when it comes to sports games, at least of the fantasy variety. .
Paris-based Sorare raised € 580 million in a funding-seeking crowfunding led by Japanese conglomerate Softbank, setting a European funding record in the process. Investors have established a value for the company of more than 3.6 billion euros. With the funds secured, the company plans to expand its business model to new sports starting in 2022, as Sorare co-founder Nicolas Julia has assured.
What is Sorare?
Founded in 2018, Sorare is a fantasy- style soccer game (with cards) in which players buy and sell real soccer player cards. Each card is registered as NFT on the Ethereum blockchain , which acts as a certificate of authenticity for all transactions.
Players can also build their own fantasy team with up to five Sorare NFT cards and compete in tournaments for money, paid for in the form of Ethereum cryptocurrency. The performance of a given card is related to the real-life performance of the footballer it represents, adding an element of financial risk to NFT trading.
All cards are officially licensed, with the main European clubs such as Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid or Liverpool. Not all Sorare’s cards are the same. Each season, 1,000 limited cards are minted, as well as 100 rare, 10 super rare, and only one unique NFT for each footballer featured in the game.
This creates a secondary market where players buy and sell NFT cards , the value of which fluctuates according to the demand and performance of individual footballers in real life; Simply put, rarer cards featuring star players like French striker Kylian Mbappé or Manchester United’s Christiano Ronaldo will be far more valuable than those of other lesser-known players.
And that’s where the financial risk lies. The value of Sorare’s NFTs may go up or down, depending directly on real-world factors such as a player’s performance or the future prospects of a certain player, which will have a direct and immediate impact on the value of his NFT.
NFT’s sports market grows
Sorare is the largest sports-based NFT platform by sales volume, according to experts in this market. NFT’s sales in Sorare have amounted to more than 128 million euros since January this year. The single most expensive card on the platform is that of Cristiano Ronaldo, and it was purchased for 245,000 euros last March.
Earlier this month, the top flight of Spanish soccer, La Liga , signed an agreement with Sorare to bring the league’s clubs to the platform. It followed similar moves from other international leagues, including the German Bundesliga, or Japan’s J1 League.
