FIFA, the international governing body for the world’s most popular sport, will release a limited number of digital collectibles later this week that will give owners the opportunity to watch the final match of the 2026 World Cup, a statement said.
“For the initial release, 100 digital collectibles will be made available… and these will include the rarest collectibles offering the chance to get tickets to the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final,” the statement said. “A total of 900 additional digital collectibles will be released on the Polygon network and made available on the OpenSea platform.”
FIFA’s NFTs were originally minted on Algorand, but now plan to move to Polygon with the second phase of this upcoming collection, a blockchain popular among Web3 gaming projects. Future launches of FIFA digital collectibles will also use Polygon, the statement said.
When FIFA first announced ‘FIFA+ Collect’ last year, it was announced that it would ‘give football fans around the world the opportunity to affordably own unique digital collectibles’. The NFT drop comes as the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup kicks off tomorrow in Saudi Arabia.
Although NFT trading volumes have recovered recently, levels are still well below what they were during the last bull run, when non-fungible PFP tokens from top collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club were sometimes sold for millions of dollars. However, major brands have continued to pursue opportunities to serve and monetize superfans with digital collecting initiatives.
Modex takes over
FIFA also announced that Modex will take over the “strategic management” of its digital collection platform, which has already dropped several collections from football brands. “Digital collectibles expand the ways fans can interact with their favorite players, teams and the game they love, and we are honored to support FIFA in realizing this goal,” said Francesco Abbate, CEO of Modex in a statement declaration.
Using professional sports as a way to connect with consumers is being used by several companies active in the blockchain and crypto space. Crypto exchange OKX has signed a sponsorship deal with Manchester City, while the French fantasy sports gaming company Sorare has a partnership with the English Premier League.