PSG forward Lionel Messi is reportedly joining the French NFT trading card game Sorare as an investor and brand ambassador. Messi and Sorare are said to be working together to develop new content and fan experiences.
Lionel Messi Joins NFT Card Game Sorare
The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner will also work with Solare to set standards for how fans connect with football clubs and players, the company said in a recent statement.
As part of the agreement, Messi has taken an equity stake in Sorare, as first reported by CNBC. This is without elaborating on the size of his holding or other terms.
Sorare's CEO and co-founder, Nicolas Julia, called the collaboration with Messi a "huge milestone" for the company.
In a statement, the soccer star claimed that supporters have always sought ways to show their enthusiasm for and appreciation for the players and teams they support. According to Messi, Sorare's fantasy game and digital collectibles give fans new opportunities to do that, wherever they may be in the world.
Messi joins other elite athletes like tennis great Serena Williams and PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe in partnering with Sorare. Mbappe also joined Sorare as a brand ambassador and investor, while Serena Williams joined the platform as a board advisor.
Messi has previously participated in blockchain platforms and games. Messi signed a $20 million, three-year partnership agreement in March to promote the Socios digital fan token platform and serve as its international brand ambassador.
According to NFT Gators, as part of his two-year contract with the football team, he also previously consented to receive a portion of his salary in PSG fan tokens created by Socios for Paris Saint-Germain.
The renowned soccer champ also recently joined forces with the Bitget exchange. In fact, Lionel Andrés Messi and the cryptocurrency exchange announced their partnership in late October.
A Look at the NFT Card Game
How does the card game NFT work? Users of Sorare can manage five-man teams in fantasy soccer tournaments and trade digital player cards. The cards themselves are NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, that are registered on the blockchain.
According to Sorare, each card becomes "digitally scarce" in the process, making them rarer and of greater value. View the game rules here to get a better idea of how it actually works.
Sorare also said in a statement that this year has already been incredibly exciting for the community as the company introduced baseball and basketball as two new sports in the NFT card game.
In other news, EA Sports recently used their game to predict the outcome of the upcoming World Cup.
According to ESPN, EA Sports used FIFA 23 and the in-depth player ratings used for the game's various FIFA World Cup play modes to play out all 64 matches from the group stage to the final and determined that Lionel Messi and his team are destined to win.
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