The Algorand blockchain will be used to connect the video of legendary football moments ahead of the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
The Qatar 2022 World Cup is the perfect time for the International Federation of Football Association, the organization in charge of this sport on a global scale, to introduce a collection of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) representing the iconic moments in world cup history.
Football fans will be able to collect and exchange “story moments” including the greatest goals, saves, celebrations, and more from World Cup and Women’s World Cup history when FIFA+ Collect launches later this month, according to FIFA+.
The FIFA World Cup NFTs will be linked to the Algorand blockchain in accordance with a deal struck in May naming Algorand as the blockchain and wallet provider for Qatar 2022. Algorand is the most recent World Cup sponsor from the United States since 2011.
The NBA Top Shot basketball collectibles platform, which was developed by Dapper Labs, the same company that produced CryptoKitties, the first NFT collection to be successful enough to be listed on the Ethereum blockchain, is one example of how classic sports moments immortalized as digital assets helped drive NFTs on a large scale.
“The fandom is changing and soccer fans around the world are engaging with the game in new and exciting ways,” FIFA chief commercial officer Romy Gai said in a statement. “This announcement makes FIFA collectibles available to any football fan, democratizing the ability to own a piece of the FIFA World Cup.”
The competition, which is held every four years, was most recently held in Russia and was one of the most watched sporting events in history. Over 3.2 billion people, or roughly half of the world’s population over the age of four, watched the 2018 World Cup. The 90-minute final between France and Croatia was watched by about 1.1 billion people.