Football

Argentina football league scores metaverse partnership after World Cup triumph

Argentina’s football association has partnered with metaverse platform Upland following the national team’s World Cup victory in Qatar.

Argentina’s World Cup triumph in Qatar is already bearing fruit for its national football association through a new metaverse partnership.

The country’s professional football league will make the first foray into Upland’s metaverse through an official licensing agreement between the Argentine Football Association (AFA) and the Silicon Valley-based firm.

The deal will see the AFA take the Liga Profesional de Fútbol (LPF) into Upland’s metaverse platform, powering fan engagement between Argentinian football fans, teams and players. 

Gamified opportunities are touted to include a variety of Argentine football digital collectibles, including teams, clubs, players, tickets, highlights from games, historical moments and other exclusive offers.

The partnership also represents a first for Upland as it offers exclusive ownership of highlight videos of moments from LPF matches. The sale of a variety of nonfungible tokens is set to provide the Argentinian top-flight league with a new source of income as users buy, sell and trade licensed digital assets.

Upland will also afford users the ability to start virtual businesses to resell LPF digital collectibles in user-owned and operated shops located on virtual properties. The metaverse platform is mapping out a digital version of the world intended to offer digital land ownership, asset creation and a virtual economy.

The agreement with the Argentine Football Association comes on the back of Upland’s partnerships with Portuguese topflight outfit FC Porto as well as FIFA itself. The latter agreement saw Upland offer licensed digital collectibles for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which included highlights from the recently completed tournament.

Related: Fan tokens struggle to hold on as World Cup quarter-finals draw nearer

The world of sports, cryptocurrencies and blockchain have become increasingly entwined in recent years. Formula 1 filed trademarks, including NFT and cryptocurrency-powered goods and services in August 2022, while the likes of McLaren and Red Bull Racing explored their own Web3 and NFT offerings this season. 

Meanwhile, fan token platform Socios has continued to grow this year despite tough market conditions. Cryptocurrency exchange OKX has also expanded its marketing efforts, inking a sponsorship deal with current English Premier League champions Manchester City in 2022.

Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo also joined the world of Web3 through an exclusive partnership with Binance to roll out a series of NFT collections in a multi-year deal. 

Argentine football league scores metaverse partnership after World Cup triumph

Argentina’s football association has partnered with metaverse platform Upland following the national team’s World Cup victory in Qatar.

Argentina’s World Cup triumph in Qatar is already bearing fruit for its national football association through a new metaverse partnership.

The country’s professional football league will make the first foray into Upland’s metaverse through an official licensing agreement between the Argentine Football Association (AFA) and the Silicon Valley-based firm.

The deal will see the AFA take the Liga Profesional de Fútbol (LPF) into Upland’s metaverse platform, powering fan engagement between Argentine football fans, teams and players. 

Gamified opportunities are touted to include a variety of Argentine football digital collectibles, including teams, clubs, players, tickets, highlights from games, historical moments and other exclusive offers.

The partnership also represents a first for Upland as it offers exclusive ownership of highlight videos of moments from LPF matches. The sale of a variety of nonfungible tokens (NFT) is set to provide the Argentine top-flight league with a new source of income as users buy, sell and trade licensed digital assets.

Upland will also afford users the ability to start virtual businesses to resell LPF digital collectibles in user-owned and operated shops located on virtual properties. The metaverse platform is mapping out a digital version of the world intended to offer digital land ownership, asset creation and a virtual economy.

The agreement with the Argentine Football Association comes on the back of Upland’s partnerships with Portuguese topflight outfit FC Porto as well as FIFA itself. The latter agreement saw Upland offer licensed digital collectibles for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which included highlights from the recently completed tournament.

Related: Fan tokens struggle to hold on as World Cup quarter-finals draw nearer

The world of sports, cryptocurrencies and blockchain have become increasingly entwined in recent years. Formula 1 filed trademarks for NFT and cryptocurrency-powered goods and services in August 2022, while the likes of McLaren and Red Bull Racing explored their own Web3 and NFT offerings this season. 

Meanwhile, fan token platform Socios has continued to grow this year despite tough market conditions. Cryptocurrency exchange OKX has also expanded its marketing efforts, inking a sponsorship deal with current English Premier League champions Manchester City in 2022.

Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo also joined the world of Web3 through an exclusive partnership with Binance to roll out a series of NFT collections in a multiyear deal. 

Blockchain infrastructure firm Chain will sponsor New England Patriots football team

Chain will work to develop Web3 experiences for visitors to Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place by “merging the physical with the digital.”

Chain, a blockchain infrastructure firm that offers developers Web3 services to build and maintain blockchain-based applications, will sponsor the New England Patriots football team as well as other venues and sporting clubs controlled by the Kraft Group.

In a Thursday announcement, Chain said it will be the official blockchain and Web3 sponsor of the Patriots, the New England Revolution soccer club, Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts and the shopping center Patriot Place as part of a multi-year partnership deal with Kraft Sports + Entertainment, the marketing and events division of the Kraft Group. Chain will work to develop Web3 experiences for visitors to Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place by “merging the physical with the digital.”

Speaking to Cointelegraph, a Chain spokesperson declined to comment on the monetary details behind the partnership. They hinted that the Web3 fan experience was tied to the firm “recently [selling] out a historic NFT project with a global luxury retailer.”

Chain said it offered products including Ledger, Cloud and nonfungible tokens as a service. The firm acquired Measurable Data Token (MDT) and its ecosystem products for $100 million in July, which included blockchain oracle MeFi and cashback app RewardMe.

Many of the reactions from Crypto Twitter on the Patriots’ sponsorship seemed to be positive, but some questioned how blockchain technology would contribute to fans’ experiences.

Related: Sports sponsorship is helping legitimize crypto in Australia — Coinjar exec

Professional sports organizations both in the United States and abroad have seen major funds flowing in with crypto sponsorships. Crypto.com inked a $700-million deal to rename Los Angeles’ Staples Center in 2021, later signing a five-year sponsorship deal with the Australia Football League for $25 million and becoming one of the official sponsors of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. However, the exchange also reportedly backed out of a roughly half-billion dollar agreement with the Union of European Football Associations Champions League in September. 

Cointelegraph reached out to the Patriots, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

The Real Deal? Peter McCormack’s Bedford Bitcoin Bet scores more than goals

Real Bedford Football Club nets another example of how Bitcoin grassroots adoption benefits the broader community.

The Bitcoin Standard has many formations. For some, selling all possessions and living off magic internet money is key; for others, it’s about sweeping every spare penny into Satoshis. For popular podcaster Peter McCormack–an avid football fan–it meant buying his local club and signing Bitcoin (BTC) onto the team sheet. 

Bitcoin advocate McCormack acquired his hometown football club in December 2021. He renamed and rebranded the club to Real Bedford, and at the ground, Bitcoin qualifies as payment for shirts, drinks and tickets.

But with the price of Bitcoin wallowing in the $20,000s, can the ethos behind a falling currency transform a football club’s future? And more importantly, why has this lower league club caught the attention of Bitcoin advocates around the world?

Pitchside, Cointelegraph caught up with McCormack, local fans and Bitcoiners on the first match of the season which was streamed to hundreds of Bitcoiners around the world.

Ever since he was a boy, McCormack dreamed of buying Bedford Town, the local football club. “Bedford could support a team in the Fooball League,” he told Cointelegraph. He ended up buying the lesser local team, Bedford Football Club which plays in the Spartan South Midlands Football League.

At six leagues below the English Football League (EFL), the footballing ladder for Real Bedford towers high above. McCormack jokes that playing in the Premier League is more of a wind-up–at least for now. Nonetheless,  while footballing achievement is crucial for promotion, the biggest challenge the club currently faces is that “the team’s sponsors are Bitcoin companies.”

The post-match interview spot is entirely crypto sponsors.

In somewhat surreal scenes, adverts for Bitcoin-friendly brands including Casa, Gemini and Compass Mining plaster the billboards surrounding the stadium, while match day kits also feature crypto companies. However, with the Bitcoin bear market in full swing, there’s a risk these companies are in trouble.

“At some point towards the end of the season, I need to go back to them, say, look, we delivered, hopefully, hopefully, hopefully we’re promoted, and it’s all going very well, but I need to go back and say, okay, we need to go to the next level. Okay, I need you to sponsor again.”

Some local fans were bemused by billboard Bitcoin advertisements that enclosed the pitch; others were keen to ask where to get their hands on Bitcoin. Despite the Bitcoin-centric approach, fans Cointelegraph spoke to place greater weight on the manager’s impact than the impact of the club putting “bitcoin at heart.” In essence, Chairman McCormack has financed the team; now it’s time for the manager to galvanize the team and inspire the athletes.

To their credit, the team has enjoyed excellent pre-season results. Real Bedford drew with teams several leagues above and the squad is top of the league table at the time of writing.

The manager, as well as some key players, transferred from local rivals Bedford Town FC before the season, despite that Real Bedford sits two leagues lower down the English footballing pyramid. Plus, McCormack jokes there are more people attending the pregame Bitcoin meetup than attending match days last season.

Bitcoin Gandalf of Braiins Bitcoin mining company, who attended the game, summed up the atmosphere:

“The fact that there are people coming from all around the U.K. and even Europe to watch a lower league team primarily because they are the first club to run on a Bitcoin standard is a testament to what a paradigm-shifting technology Bitcoin is.”

Bitcoin meetup participants varied from seasoned node runners to newcomers. One lady asked, “Who controls mining?” while some enthusiasts performed their first peer-to-peer or Lightning Network transaction. The Bitcoin “₿” is hard to miss at the club, while the reach of the lower tier league club is global. Fans in Amsterdam and Minnesota have bought merchandise for the lower league club. 

Real Bedford supporters spotted on the streets of Amsterdam. Source: BTC Magazine Youtube

At the clubhouse, meanwhile, Bitcoin-backed bonuses for goalscorers were brought up. Daniel Prince, a fellow Bitcoin podcaster, suggested sharing Bitcoin QR codes specific to players on the live stream. It would allow Bitcoin and football fans around the world to “tip” players in real-time–say when a player scores a goal or wins a challenge. “It’s proof-of-work in action,” Prince explained.

Despite McCormack’s Bitcoin-first focus, players still dabble in altcoins. The season’s top goal scorer, Dan Walker, told Cointelegraph that he made good money tinkering with “smart DeFi protocols” in 2022. Granted, “Bitcoin is the future,” he explained, but he didn’t have any Bitcoin on match day while his salary is paid in Great British pounds sterling. 

Bitcoin aside, the passion McCormack harbors for his local town is infectious. He pours his heart and soul into the team–and by proxy the town. The team’s football t-shirt merely says “₿edford” — as opposed to Real Bedford — signaling the intention to put his hometown on the Bitcoin world map. El Salvador exploded onto the scene by way of Bitcoin adoption, so maybe Bedford could also ride that wave.

In a post-match interview, McCormack told Cointelegraph he would much rather have a pint in the local pub than a big one in Las Vegas, and it’s Bedford over Texas every day of the week, despite Texas’ taste for Bitcoin. Plus, Real Bedford’s promotion means far more to him than Tottenham Hotspur’s relegation. Tottenham Hotspur, a London Premier League club, are staunch enemies and often the butt of McCormack’s jokes.

Related: Oxford City Football Club to accept Bitcoin for matchday tickets

Locals also commented to Cointelegraph that there’s more to McCormack’s character than magic internet money: He’s the first to lend a hand and support the community. True to form, McCormack could be found handing out drinks, wiping down tables and greeting fans on match day — most if not all of whom he knew on a first-name basis.

It’s short-sighted to call the team and the transition to a Bitcoin Standard a success. Nonetheless, with 3-0 and 7-1 results to kick the season off, combined with lively Bitcoin meetups and a growing turnout of fans, there are encouraging signs that Bitcoin is setting the standard.

Fake Manchester United token soars 3,000% after Elon Musk jokes about buying team

Other Manchester United-related assets also rallied after Musk’s tweet, as well as Manchester City’s fan token.

Manchester United Fan Token (MUFC) is a dead coin and not related to the sports franchise, but one Elon Musk tweet was enough to revive it on Aug. 17.

Fake Man U token pumps after Elon Musk’s tweet

To clarify, MUFC is not an official Manchester United crypto token. It came to life in August 2021 after a team of programmers, who are said to be hardcore Manchester United fans, falsely claimed that holding MUFC would give buye influence on the football club’s decisions.

The team later conducted an “airdrop” round of 10,000,000,000 MUFC in November 2021, promising to provide 10,000 MUFC to users who followed its official social media handles. The prospects of getting free MUFC tokens helped its price rally to as high as $1.

But the project turned out to be vaporware, eventually leading MUFC down by 100% after November. It was deemed extinct until a tweet from billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Aug. 17 revived it from oblivion.

The Tesla CEO tweeted that he would buy the Manchester United football club, which he later admitted was a “long-running joke.”

Nonetheless, the message sent the financial assets related to Manchester United soaring, including its stock MANU, which rose 1.97% in pre-market trading, and Tezos (XTZ), the club’s official blockchain and training partner, whose market valuation surged by $138.85 million.

Even Manchester City’s official crypto token, CITY, popped higher by nearly 14% to reach $7 per piece after Musk’s tweet, despite Manchester City being a different football club.

CITY/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

On the other hand, MUFC surged by over 3,000% hours after Musk’s tweet about buying Manchester United, according to data fetched by CoinPaprika.com.

MUFC price and volume performance (last seven days). Source: CoinPaprika.com

“Manchester United fan token” has zero liquidity

However, the MUFC rally appears to be price manipulation due to extremely poor liquidity and volume. 

Notably, in the last 24 hours, MUFC had been trading only against two crypto assets: WBNB and USDT. While the liquidity for the WBNB/MUFC pair was mere $106.84, it was even lower for the USDT/MUFC pair at around $10, according to data from PancakeSwap, a decentralized exchange.

MUFC pools statistics as of Aug. 17. Source: PancakeSwap

Meanwhile, the net volume that backed MUFC’s 3,000% rally was approximately $39,000 in the last 24 hours, suggesting fewer traders behind the major upside move.

MUFC volume record. Source: PancakeSwap

Thus, a small number of speculators likely used MUFC’s poor liquidity to artificially pump the token. The number of traders who bought the false upside narrative remains unclear, but given thatMUFC has already dropped by 50% from its local top, the prospect that its rate would return to zero is high.

Related: Crypto scams fall 65% after gullible noobs exit the market: Chainalysis

Meanwhile, the incident reasserts Musk’s strong influence on the crypto market, especially on memecoins like Dogecoin.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Argentinean soccer club welcomes first crypto signing amid economic downturn

As the exchange rate gap between the US dollar and Argentinean pesos worsens, so does the possibility for Argentine footballers to get signed by international teams.

Argentina’s economic restrictions have reached the sports industry, with the first signing of a local football player with cryptocurrencies hitting national headlines.

The transfer of midfielder Giuliano Galoppo from Banfield’s Athletic Club to Sao Paulo Futebol Clube was made in USD Coin (USDC), exceeding $6 million and up to $8 million depending on the volatile exchange rate of the Argentine peso, according to local sources. The transfer was made possible through a collaboration with the Mexican crypto exchange Bitso.

“We are very proud to work with these two clubs for this historical signing of Sao Paulo with all the safety, transparency and flexibility that the crypto economy has to offer,” said Thales Freitas, Bitso’s director in Brazil.

The transfer happened amid a difficult economic situation for Argentinian sports clubs. The reported exchange gap between pesos and dollars keeps escalating, affecting the possibility for football players to get signed by international teams and inducing them to renegotiate their contracts to adjust their salaries to the volatile dollar price.

The country’s unstable economy has led to a major adoption of cryptocurrencies, especially stablecoins. The tendency toward stablecoins notoriously escalated after the shocking resignation of Argentina’s economy minister earlier this month.

The practice of crypto adoption has also been replicated in sports by players and clubs alike in the country. However, this would be the first time clubs could accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment for international transfers to regain a competitive advantage in the market for their players.

Despite its novelty, the cryptocurrency transaction involving Galoppo will still be subject to regulations. According to Bloomberg, Argentine central bank sources clarified that Galoppo’s transfer is an export operation. As a result, Banfield will be forced to liquidate their USDC into local currency, pesos, using the official exchange market.

On the other hand, it remains unclear how the pro footballer chooses to exchange USDC to the official exchange market directly while allowing the club to resist the central bank’s measures.

Related: Blockchain, crypto set to take sports industry beyond NFT collectibles

A recent study conducted by Big Four accounting firm Deloitte revealed the potential of the crypto ecosystem in redefining revenue streams and fan engagement across the sports industry.

The report anticipates crypto to bring about a nexus “around sports collectibles, ticketing, betting, and gaming.” For example, with nonfungible tokens (NFTs), the sports industry can introduce initiatives around fractional ownership, which could spark the reinvention of the ticket resale process.

Brazilian soccer club welcomes first Argentinian crypto signing amid economic downturn

As the exchange rate gap between the US dollar and Argentinean pesos worsens, so does the possibility for Argentine footballers to get signed by international teams.

Argentina’s economic restrictions have reached the sports industry, with the first signing of a local football player with cryptocurrencies hitting national headlines.

The transfer of midfielder Giuliano Galoppo from Banfield’s Athletic Club to Sao Paulo Futebol Clube was made in USD Coin (USDC), exceeding $6 million and up to $8 million depending on the volatile exchange rate of the Argentine peso, according to local sources. The transfer was made possible through a collaboration with the Mexican crypto exchange Bitso.

“We are very proud to work with these two clubs for this historical signing of Sao Paulo with all the safety, transparency and flexibility that the crypto economy has to offer,” said Thales Freitas, Bitso’s director in Brazil.

The transfer happened amid a difficult economic situation for Argentinian sports clubs. The reported exchange gap between pesos and United States dollars keeps escalating, affecting the possibility for football players to get signed by international teams and inducing them to renegotiate their contracts to adjust their salaries to the volatile USD price.

The country’s unstable economy has led to a major adoption of cryptocurrencies, especially stablecoins. The tendency toward stablecoins notoriously escalated after the shocking resignation of Argentina’s economy minister earlier this month.

The practice of crypto adoption has also been replicated in sports by players and clubs alike in the country. However, this would be the first time clubs could accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment for international transfers to regain a competitive advantage in the market for their players.

Despite its novelty, the cryptocurrency transaction involving Galoppo will still be subject to regulations. According to Bloomberg, Argentine central bank sources clarified that Galoppo’s transfer is an export operation. As a result, Banfield will be forced to liquidate their USDC into local currency, pesos, using the official exchange market.

On the other hand, it remains unclear how the pro footballer chooses to exchange USDC to the official exchange market directly while allowing the club to resist the central bank’s measures.

Related: Blockchain, crypto set to take sports industry beyond NFT collectibles

A recent study conducted by Big Four accounting firm Deloitte revealed the potential of the crypto ecosystem in redefining revenue streams and fan engagement across the sports industry.

The report anticipates crypto to bring about a nexus “around sports collectibles, ticketing, betting, and gaming.” For example, with nonfungible tokens (NFTs), the sports industry can introduce initiatives around fractional ownership, which could spark the reinvention of the ticket resale process.