Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Ligue 1 enter Web3. Is there hope for the World Cup to dispel the shadow of crypto?

Source: ODAILY Planet Daily

For all investors and practitioners in the cryptocurrency market, 2022 will be a year to remember, as we witnessed history multiple times, with a large number of investors becoming victims under the relentless wheels of history.

In the first half of 2022, the algorithmic stablecoin giant Luna collapsed, not only did Luna's market value of hundreds of billions vanish overnight, but it also triggered a series of subsequent chain reactions in the market.

Subsequently, Luna's investor 3AC went bankrupt - Voyager, which lent money to 3AC, declared bankruptcy - Alameda, which acquired Voyager, fell into a liquidity crisis - FTX, which lent to Alameda, also fell into a liquidity crisis…….

Once the first domino fell, even the world's second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, could not turn the tide, ultimately facing bankruptcy and restructuring.

The worst part is that FTX's collapse not only accelerated the arrival of the crypto winter but also led to widespread bankruptcies among investors in the circle, with the market's total value severely shrinking and capital outflow becoming evident.

However, as the shadow of the bear market brought by FTX gradually dissipates, will the crypto market show signs of recovery due to the recent excitement surrounding the World Cup?

Recently, top football star Cristiano Ronaldo announced through his personal Twitter account that he would be entering the NFT market, stating: "My relationship with my fans is very important to me, and the unprecedented experience brought by NFTs will enhance our connection, as I know fans will love these NFT collectibles just as much as I do."

This announcement immediately attracted attention from the crypto market and revitalized the long-dormant NFT market. Meanwhile, according to CNBC, another football superstar, Lionel Messi, will also join the French NFT trading card game Sorare as an investor and brand ambassador.

Thus, both active superstars in football have joined the Web3 track in different forms.

However, the matter does not end here; reports indicate that one of the top five leagues in international football, Ligue 1, has also recently joined the Web3 track.

This news was soon confirmed. On November 16, the well-known Ligue 1 team Toulouse FC announced through its official Twitter that it had reached a strategic cooperation with the Web3 football metaverse project FFC and would jointly establish a Web3 football metaverse world with FFC.

With the backing of two superstars and the high-profile entry of Ligue 1, the fan token ecosystem token CHZ also saw a rise, clearly indicating that this celebration, radiating from the World Cup to the crypto world, has begun to ferment, and the World Cup fever is approaching.

The Huge Value of Alliance Fan Tokens

It is evident that as the World Cup approaches, the related topics are gaining global popularity, and fan tokens are becoming a mainstream way to monetize fan engagement.

The emergence of fan tokens has built a bridge between the football industry and the crypto market, allowing more football enthusiasts to join the crypto world and making the connection between clubs and fans closer.

However, we must admit that from a long-term perspective, most existing fan tokens do not possess long-term value and have yet to fully realize the true power of the combination of football and cryptocurrency.

Currently, the mainstream football concept fan tokens in the market include: CHZ, BFT (Brazil National Team Token), ARG (Argentina National Team Token), FFC (Ligue 1 Alliance Token), etc., each of which has its advantages.

Among them, the CHZ platform primarily focuses on the fan token ecosystem, while the Brazil and Argentina national teams have strong fan bases. There are already many analyses of these fan tokens available online, so this article will not elaborate further.

In this article, I will focus on FFC.

FFC stands for League of France Football Club, which is jointly issued by several top football clubs under Ligue 1 and is an ecological alliance-type Web3 football project.

Friends familiar with football may know that Ligue 1 is one of the top five leagues in football, alongside La Liga, Serie A, the Premier League, and the Bundesliga, and is one of the top professional football leagues aside from the World Cup. Currently, there are 20 teams in Ligue 1, with fans spread across the globe, totaling over ten million fans. In other words, FFC will have this huge natural traffic pool.

Currently, the well-known Ligue 1 team Toulouse FC has publicly announced that it has reached a deep strategic cooperation with the FFC ecosystem and will work with FFC to build a Web3 football metaverse ecosystem. At the same time, FFC has signed four ecological promotion ambassadors from Toulouse FC, and these four players will participate in this year's Qatar World Cup, which will be a great advertising effect for FFC.

Among all the teams in Ligue 1, except for Paris Saint-Germain, the other clubs have not issued fan tokens, so FFC has a great chance to reach strategic cooperation with more clubs and stars under Ligue 1 in the future.

In summary, I believe FFC has the potential to become a dark horse among the World Cup-related projects this year.

Of course, tokens like CHZ, BFT, ARG, etc., also have their value attributes, but these projects are not new platforms and have experienced several rounds of increases, making the participation threshold for users higher. In contrast, FFC, as a newly launched football ecosystem this year, is still in its early development stage.

FFC's Future Plans

In fact, top sports stars have always had very strong personal commercial value, and the stars themselves and their related economic companies are very adept at leveraging this value.

In 1880, American tobacco manufacturers first introduced trading cards featuring stars, initially as gifts attached to cigarette packs for customers. Due to the positive response, candy and toy manufacturers followed suit, gradually forming a unique category of collectibles.

Today, trading cards have become extremely popular merchandise related to sports stars, with several companies like PANINI, Topps, UpperDeck, FLEER, and Skybox producing related products, but the market value is highest for PANINI. As of November 6, on a second-hand collectible card trading platform, the top five auction prices for PANINI star cards were $1.429 million, $15,000, and $14,000, respectively.

It is worth mentioning that the market value of Cristiano Ronaldo's PANINI star card has reached $500,000, proving the immense potential of Ronaldo's personal commercial value and fan economy. Therefore, Ronaldo's entry into the NFT space is expected to bring many new users and funds to the crypto market.

It is foreseeable that as more football-related teams and stars enter the Web3 track, the crypto world will give rise to more NFT "PANINI cards."

According to FFC's official statement, FFC will later issue NFT alliance rights cards and football-related NFT products based on various stars and clubs. This is an important part of the FFC ecosystem, which not only symbolizes identity and commemorative significance but will also enjoy corresponding rights, with specific details to be announced soon.

It is understood that the NFT alliance rights cards issued by FFC will also grant token airdrop rights. For each alliance rights card NFT held by a user, they will receive an airdrop of 20,000 FFC Tokens.

Based on the strong fan base of Ligue 1 and the strong economic effects brought by the World Cup fever, FFC NFT alliance rights cards are expected to become the PANINI star cards of the Web3 world.

The 2022 World Cup is the twilight of the gods, an era is about to end, and a generation's youth will also come to a close. Ronaldo and Messi may never step onto the World Cup stage again. But in the future, we will meet them again in the Web3 football metaverse.