Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and all the cream of Spanish football ... The hunting table of the young French sprout Sorare is enriched with a hell of a good catch. The Spanish La Liga has chosen this start-up specializing in the edition of blockchain-based sports cards to enter the world of "NFT". Created in 2018 by two French people, Nicolas Julia and Adrien Montfort, this young sportech has reinvented the concept of “Panini cards”, by marrying the idea of collectible value cards with that of online games based on the actual performance of players. on the pitch, as well as the right to access specific events with players.
If for three years, Sorare has already concluded licensing agreements with very prestigious clubs (Liverpool FC, FC Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain FC, Juventus FC ...), this is the first partnership signed directly with a league , a major step for the rapid development of the company. “
La Liga is one of the best championships in the world, with some of the most legendary clubs and footballers on the planet,
” said Nicolas Julia, CEO and co-founder of Sorare. The partnership covers both La Liga Santander (first division) and La Liga Smartbank (second division). The amount of this “exclusive and long-term” agreement is not disclosed.
La Liga is the first of the five biggest football leagues in the world to sign a partnership to issue NFTs to all players. For the league and the clubs, these digital assets - whose authenticity and traceability are in theory indisputable - represent new sources of income thanks to the payment of royalties on the sale of cards. It is also an innovative way for brands to develop their brand. “
Sorare, the most exciting NFT sports project at the moment,
” said Javier Tebas, the president of La Liga. “
This partnership allows us to reach new audiences around the world and gives existing supporters additional ways to get involved with the players and clubs they love.
.
".
In exchange for its intellectual property and its marketing support, the League receives the payment of income on the sales of digital assets.
200 million euros in sales
Discussions between the two parties were encouraged by the presence in Sorare's capital of Gerard Piqué (FC Barcelona) and French Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid) who personally invested in French company from 2020.
With this partnership, Sorare now has 180 licensed football clubs, including more than 50% of clubs from the top 20 leagues in the world. Its ambition is to join forces with the twenty best football leagues in the world by the end of 2022. The agreement with the league of one of the best championships in the world "gives credibility to this new category of game and competition. collector's item ”explains Sorare. “
We had a very strong start to the year
»Confirms Nicolas Julia.
Sorare is on track to garner a sales volume of more than 200 million euros in revenue by the end of 2021. The platform currently has 500,000 users, with very strong growth in the United States and in Asia.
Its success has aroused a lot of interest from investment funds wishing to invest in this young nugget.
She is currently leading a new round of funding which could be one of the highest for a French start-up.
But nothing is decided yet, according to its CEO.
With 22 employees, Sorare plans to recruit around 30 by the end of the year.
