Premier League gets Ethereum-based digital cards with Sorare partnership

Blockchain-powered fantasy sports firm Sorare has sealed a deal with the English Premier League to mint Ethereum-based digital player cards on its platform.

Sorare has driven an interesting use case for Ethereum-based fantasy sports and digital card trading in recent years, offering fans the ability to mint, collect and trade various player cards with other users across a variety of nonfungible token (NFT) marketplaces.

Cointelegraph reached out to Sorare to clarify details of their latest deal which brings the Premier League to the fingertips of football fans. While the partnership was officially announced on January 30, a Sorare spokesperson said discussions between the league and the company had been ongoing for a lengthy period.

Sorare began to make moves within the Premier League network in 2019, signing West Ham United as its first English club as a partner of its platform. Cointelegraph has learned that the League and Sorare have agreed on a four-year deal, with the value of the partnership undisclosed for contractual reasons.

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The company spokesperson also broke down the structure of the deal, with Sorare making an upfront downpayment to the league for licensing rights. From there, digital card sales result in a percentage split between Sorare and the Premier League.

Sorare mints digital cards of players from the Premier League on the Ethereum blockchain. The platform has long used ERC-721 token standard for its NFT player cards, which can be collected and trade by fans and used to play on the platform’s free-to-play fantasy sports league.

The Premier League digital cards will be available for initial purchase on Sorare before being available for trading on compatible marketplaces like OpenSea. The fantasy sports platform continues to be a proponent for connecting fans, players and organizations with blockchain technology:

“For Sorare, this underlying technology is the means, not the ends, to connecting users with their favourite clubs, and we welcome it powering the next generation of sports fandom and entertainment.”

NFTs including digital trading cards and highlights from various sporting codes have been become popular collectibles in recent years. NBA Top Shots exploded in popularity in 2021, while the football world has continued to see synergies with blockchain-based platforms.