Cooperation between football clubs and cryptocurrencies has increased rapidly since the revenues of clubs have fallen sharply under the COVID-19, with limited gains from traditional methods. European clubs reportedly haemorrhaged €1.1bn in total. As a result, they began to seek out moneyed investors, with Saudi Arabia’s purchase of Newcastle FC being one recent example. Over the past few years, clubs have also embraced support from the newly wealthy cryptocurrency industry, which has quickly cottoned on to the enormous revenue potential of football’s online fandom.

• Financing without affecting the shareholding structure

• Expand overseas presence without geographical restrictions

• Increase the sense of involvement of fans in the joint governance of the club

Take the example of Socios' partnership with several clubs.

Fan engagement platform Socios.com and blockchain company Chiliz work together to develop fan tokens, which are initially sold at a fixed price and subsequently traded into the marketplace. If the initial sale reaches a minimum, Socios takes a profit from the subsequent transaction fees and a cut of each token sale; around 50%. The rest goes to the club (in tokens or cash).

Fans are given a voice in the governance of the club based on the percentage of coins held, such as jersey design, logo design, how wins are celebrated, etc.

Roma, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Lazio, Manchester City, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Argentina national team, Spaniards ......

• Fan tokens themselves are not very liquid but can be passively involved in the dramatic fluctuations of the cryptocurrency market.

• Market risk is passed on by clubs to ignorant fans, especially many young people.

• One such partnership, Lazio's partnership with Binance, to issue tokens directly on the CEX platform, is seen as encouraging fans to participate in highly leveraged transactions.

Cooperation between football clubs and cryptocurrencies has increased rapidly since the revenues of clubs have fallen sharply under the COVID-19, with limited gains from traditional methods. European clubs reportedly haemorrhaged €1.1bn in total. As a result, they began to seek out moneyed investors, with Saudi Arabia’s purchase of Newcastle FC being one recent example. Over the past few years, clubs have also embraced support from the newly wealthy cryptocurrency industry, which has quickly cottoned on to the enormous revenue potential of football’s online fandom.

• Financing without affecting the shareholding structure

• Expand overseas presence without geographical restrictions

• Increase the sense of involvement of fans in the joint governance of the club

Take the example of Socios' partnership with several clubs.

Fan engagement platform Socios.com and blockchain company Chiliz work together to develop fan tokens, which are initially sold at a fixed price and subsequently traded into the marketplace. If the initial sale reaches a minimum, Socios takes a profit from the subsequent transaction fees and a cut of each token sale; around 50%. The rest goes to the club (in tokens or cash).

Fans are given a voice in the governance of the club based on the percentage of coins held, such as jersey design, logo design, how wins are celebrated, etc.

Roma, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Lazio, Manchester City, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Argentina national team, Spaniards ......

• Fan tokens themselves are not very liquid but can be passively involved in the dramatic fluctuations of the cryptocurrency market.

• Market risk is passed on by clubs to ignorant fans, especially many young people.

• One such partnership, Lazio's partnership with Binance, to issue tokens directly on the CEX platform, is seen as encouraging fans to participate in highly leveraged transactions.