UEFA Euro 2024 Kicks Off, Fan Tokens Gain Popularity
While the U.S. election has become the new favorite theme in the crypto world, major sporting events, especially the UEFA Euro 2024, are the quadrennial festivals that ignite the crypto community. Each tournament brings a new peak in activity for clubs, fans, and sports-themed cryptocurrencies. Even though it’s not a World Cup year, the Euro 2024’s global ability to attract sponsorships and business opportunities is formidable.
It’s not widely known that the World Cup and the Euro Cup wield more influence than the Olympics, mainly because of football’s intense competition and the long history of online betting. The Olympics, with its varied events, doesn’t capture the same level of attention.
UEFA Euro 2024 and Fan Tokens: A Dual Celebration
Football and cryptocurrency have always been closely linked. For example, CoinW has partnered with football legend Andrea Pirlo. Crypto exchanges frequently sponsor top European clubs and tournaments, showcasing football’s attraction to the crypto world.
The 2024 European Championship will be held in Germany from June 14 to July 14, with the opening match between Germany and Scotland. The group stage will continue until July 2, followed by the knockout stages, including the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the final on July 14.
This year’s tournament will feature 24 teams split into 6 groups. The top two teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage, along with the four best third-placed teams. Notably, the participant size for each team has increased from 23 to 26 players.
Throughout the month-long event, fans will be celebrating both on-site and off-site. For off-site, fans can purchase relevant Fan Tokens in a more fashionable way.
England, France, and Germany are the top 3 leading contenders. Whereas, in the crypto sphere, there are three main types of related tokens:
- Club Fan Tokens: Issued directly by clubs.
- Crypto Project Partnerships: For example, Binance offers a one-stop fan token issuance platform.
- Public Blockchain Issuance: Like Chiliz, which is a dedicated sports blockchain and fan token.
For instance, CoinW currently offers CHZ spot trading pairs, as well as futures and ETF trading pairs, providing multiple trading options during the Euro 2024. CoinW will also launch various related campaigns to join the feast.
During the 2024 Euro Cup, some tokens will offer specific voting rights and match tickets. It’s also speculated that clubs might introduce special Euro 2024-related voting options and rewards to attract fan participation.
Given the Euro 2024’s international influence, fan tokens might collaborate with football clubs from other countries to expand their global reach and appeal.
Football Superpowers and Fan Tokens
Football superpowers usually have multiple strong local teams in their domestic leagues, such as Manchester United in the Premier League, Juventus in Italy, Real Madrid in Spain, and PSG in France. Consequently, club fan tokens can create a ripple effect in their respective countries. For example, Juventus partnered with Chiliz in 2019, becoming the first case of major team to embrace crypto.
Following Juventus, Chiliz also partnered with FC Barcelona, enabling fans to interact with the club through Socios.com, a fan voting platform.
SportFi: Beyond Token Speculation
Beyond the typical approaches, such as buying tokens to support a team, crypto users have various ways to partake in the Euro 2024 festivities, such as purchasing NFTs of football stars, clubs, and national teams. In fact, the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) has launched an NFT platform “FIFA+ Collect” on the Algorand network during the 2022 World Cup.
Other sports cash cows, like the video game- FIFA 2023, generated $1.17 billion in total revenue in 2023, including $267 million from broadcasting rights.
EA, the developer of the FIFA games, earns even more. Despite paying FIFA $150 million annually for naming rights, EA makes $1 billion annually from the FIFA series between 2018 and 2021. EA also launched promotional activities and aligned with football events, such as offering the FIFA game as a free PlayStation Plus game in May 2022 and significant discounts on other platforms.
This success attracts Sorare, a fantasy football platform. In November 2022, Lionel Messi joined Sorare as an investor. The Premier League also held talks with its 20 clubs to discuss a multi-year contract with Sorare.
Sorare’s sales data saw a significant rise before the Euro 2024 but stabilized closer to the tournament, indicating that its popularity might not be solely driven by regular fan engagement.
The Future of Web3 in Sports
Sorare represents the trend of Web3 IP monetization. Major sports events and stars need new ways to monetize and generate continuous revenue, which explains their interests in NFTs, tokens, and crypto partnerships.
However, both FIFA and Sorare keep substantial “old era” elements in their game experience and business models. They seek partnerships with established giants, prioritizing innovative profit models over the gaming experience itself, which is a common practice in sports blockchain games today.
SportFi showcases the market power of cryptocurrencies. However, on-chain betting markets like Polymarket are more akin to traditional betting platforms. Polymarket has a dedicated sports section, primarily focusing on the NBA, but the 2024 football market is already attracting tens of thousands of bets.
Conclusion
Football events offer a realm of joy for both fans and investors, from thrilling goals to market predictions. In a world increasingly divided, football provides a momentary escape from worries, bringing joy to all who participate.
