Lionel Messi takes stake in NFT fantasy football game Sorare

Soccer star Lionel Messi joins Sorare, the French non-fungible token trading game, as an investor and brand ambassador.

The Argentine, who plays as a forward for French club Paris Saint-Germain, will help Sorare set new standards for how fans connect with clubs and players, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. They will also work together to create new content and fan experiences, Sorare added.

Messi has taken a stake in Sorare as part of the deal, the company said, without elaborating on the size of his stake or other terms. Nicolas Julia, Sorare’s CEO and co-founder, said the partnership with Messi marked a “major milestone” for the company.

“We believe Messi will help us set new standards for how we do this, and we look forward to sharing what new content and fan experiences we’ve collaborated on soon,” he told CNBC via email.

Sorare allows users to trade digital player cards and manage teams of five in fantasy football tournaments. The cards are themselves non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, virtual collectibles that keep a record of ownership that is tracked on the blockchain. Sorare says this creates “digital scarcity” for each card.

The Paris-based startup, which was last valued at $4.3 billion, has more than 2 million users in over 185 countries and partners with over 300 sports teams and leagues, including Spain’s La Liga and Germany’s Bundesliga. It has recently expanded beyond its core focus on football to other sports, including basketball and baseball.

“Fans have always looked for ways to express their passion and get closer to the players and teams they love, and Sorare’s combination of a fantasy game with digital collectibles gives fans new ways to do that, wherever they are in the world,” Messi said. in a statement on Wednesday.

The partnership with Sorare adds to a series of notable deals between sports stars and crypto platforms. French soccer player Kylian Mbappe and American tennis legend Serena Williams have previously announced engagements with Sorare. American football quarterback Tom Brady took a stake in crypto exchange FTX, which on Tuesday agreed to a sale to rival firm Binance after experiencing a liquidity crisis.

Messi himself has previously agreed to take part of his salary in $PSG fan tokens, a cryptocurrency developed by blockchain sports platform Socios for Paris Saint-Germain, as part of his two-year contract with the club. The tokens have since fallen in value, falling 86% since their peak in August 2021 when Messi announced the Socios partnership, raising fears for average sports fans vulnerable to big losses.

“There has been a lot of hype around various football projects using non-fungible technology until now, but those that stick around will be those that offer real underlying utility and see non-fungible technology as a means to their ends, not the ends, Julia told CNBC.

He was also linked to Socios on a separate three-year partnership in March to become a global brand ambassador for the company. Julia told CNBC that the deal with Sorare was an “exclusive deal.” However, a spokesperson for Socios said that Messi’s deal with the firm “still stands” and that it does not consider Sorare to be a direct competitor.