Soccer’s governing body FIFA has chosen the occasion of the 2022 Qatar World Cup to launch an NFT-based (non-fungible token) collection of classic clips from the history of the international soccer tournament.
FIFA+ Collect launches later this month and will allow soccer fans to own and trade “moments in time” featuring the greatest goals, saves, celebrations and more from World Cup and Women’s World Cup history, FIFA said.
The FIFA World Cup NFT clips will be connected to the Algorand blockchain as part of a deal cemented back in May of this year to be a Qatar 2022 blockchain partner and wallet provider.
Classic moments in sport enshrined as digital assets helped drive NFTs into the mainstream, most notably in the form of NBA Top Shot, the basketball collectibles platform built by Dapper Labs, also the creators of CryptoKitties, the first NFT collection to gain traction on Ethereum.
“Fandom is changing and football fans around the world engage with the game in new and exciting ways,” said FIFA Chief Business Officer Romy Gai in a statement. “This exciting announcement makes FIFA collectibles available to any football fan, democratizing the ability to own a part of the FIFA World Cup.”