Soccer, or football as it is known in parts of the planet that aren’t North America, is also described as the world game, or the beautiful game. It’s a natural handle, because no other sport is capable of such a combination of flowing magic and global reach.
As big as the New York Yankees might be, you’d be hard-pressed to locate a fan of the Bronx Bombers in Manchester. However, there’s a Manchester United Supporters’ Club in New York City. They even have their own Facebook page.
It’s soccer’s ability to span the globe and connect with people in every corner of the world that makes the ever-burgeoning connection between the sport and cryptocurrency such a valuable asset to those who operate within the blockchain. It contains the potential to develop into a beautiful relationship that can only serve to enhance cryptocurrency’s expanding footprint around the world.
Small Beginnings
As with any relationship, the partnership of cryptocurrency and soccer began slowly and on a relatively small scale.
Among the early pairings of the two entities was the union of Italian Serie C club Rimini FC 1912 and Quantocoin, a blockchain technology venture that is offering trading, exchanges and remittance payments.
Utilizing its own native token, the Quantocoin (QRCt), Quantocoin, a company with a potential client base of 2 billion people, purchased a 25 percent interest in Rimini FC 1912. It’s the first time that a portion of any sports franchise was acquired via a cryptocurrency exchange.
Quantocoin executives view this move as an initially-small step toward larger plans to make other sports-related purchases involving more fashionable clubs with a larger international scope.
Newcastle’s StormGain
English Premier League side Newcastle United also made a move into the world of cryptocurrency. The club formed a strategic partnership with StormGain to make the cryptocurrency company their official sleeve partner for the 2019-20 EPL season.
StormGain created and operates an app for investing and trading in cryptocurrency. The company’s logo is also displayed prominently around St. James’ Park, Newcastle’s home ground, and at the club’s training center and within various club communications.
“We are always looking to support the club’s development by pursuing new commercial opportunities and this represents another important partnership for the club,” Newcastle United’s head of commercial, Dale Aitchison said in a statement.
English club Wolverhampton Wanderers have teamed with CoinDeal as their official sleeve sponsor for the past two EPL seasons. CoinDeal was the first cryptocurrency exchange platform which became a partner of an EPL side.
A Fine Messi
Barcelona and Agentina forward Lionel Messi, considered to be the finest player in the game today, is also a cryptocurrency supporter. In 2018, Messi signed on as a brand ambassador for Sirin Labs, creators of Finney, the first blockchain smartphone.
Messi isn’t the only member of the sport’s superstardom who is lending their powerful and popular names to cryptocurrency products.
Eden Harzard of Real Madrid and Belgium and Messi’s Agentina teammate Sergio Aguero of Manchester City signed on as brand ambassadors for the All Sports platform. It’s objective is to assemble a blockchain that’s intent on launching digital apps that are sports-orientated.
Former Chelsea player and ex-French international star Didier Drogba, served as a brand ambassador for the social platform All.me. It’s a product that focuses on crypto traders.
Juve Goes Big For Crypto
Italian super power Juventus were among the first of the major clubs to embrace cryptocurrency in a big way.
In 2018, Juventus formed a partnership with Socios.com to create a crypto fan token that could be acquired and exchanged for club merchandise.
Last year, they paired with French-based blockchain-enabled platform Sorare to utilize Ethereum technology to create digital cards of Juventus stars like Cristiano Ronaldo that fans of the club are able to collect and trade. These cards function like non-fungible tokens.
Playing With Crypto
While your favorite soccer club or player is supporting cryptocurrency, you can wager on them via cryptocurrency at all of the leading online sports betting sites.
Not only do the top online betting companies accept cryptocurrency to deposit to a customer’s account, most will also add extra juice to their signup bonus offer if you decide to utilize Bitcoin or another form of cryptocurrency when making deposits to your account.
