Founded 144 years ago, English soccer giant Manchester United F.C., nicknamed “The Red Devils”, is gearing up to enter the Web 3.0. Man United has joined forces with the Tezos (XTZ) blockchain to release digital sports memorabilia in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), as well as a social hub. Additionally, the first ‘United x Tezos’ NFT collection will be given away for free.
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Club memorabilia is evolving. Register to hear more Powered by @Tezos and brought to you by Tezos ecosystem companies. #RegisterClaimUnlock || #CollectUnited— Manchester United (@ManUtd) November 14, 2022
Manchester United Opens Official Discord
With the inaugural NFT collection set to drop “soon”, the partnership is not the Red Devils’ first agreement with Tezos, as the two signed a $20 million training kit sponsorship back in February. In preparation for the release event, the English soccer powerhouse has invited fans to its newly launched, official Discord channel. According to a press release, “members of this global community will be able to engage with the Club, players, legends and thousands of other like-minded fans.”
Manchester United have launched their first official NFT collection, with the initial drop of digital collectibles on the Tezos blockchain being given away to fans for free #NFT #MUFC #SportsBizThe initiative is being led by the Tezos blockchain, which currently ranks 46th on the global crypto charts by market capitalization. Tezos’ native cryptocurrency, Tezos (XTZ), has enjoyed a slight price increase of 1.4% in the last 24 hours, and is priced at $1.04 at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko. However, the Tezos (XTZ) Altcoin, along with much of the broader crypto market, has been unable to evade the brutal bears of the crypto winter, with losses of 24.2% for the last 7 days.— SportsPro (@SportsPro) November 15, 2022
Ultimately, with the crypto market still bleeding, the timing of the deal has drawn scrutiny from soccer fans on Twitter. However, F.C. Manchester United executives, along with the team behind Tezos (XTZ), insist that it’s all about adoption and utility—and Web 3.0 is sure to be the go-to place for sports fans around the globe to connect and collect rare memorabilia.
United and Tezos say token prices don't matter and this is about "utility" and building a "community" in the "Web3 space". On that, the second reason I'm shocked is...— Joey D'Urso (@josephmdurso) November 14, 2022
On the Flipside
- The Manchester United NFT project seems to have taken inspiration from the NFT collection released by rivals Liverpool earlier this year. F.C. Liverpool’s Discord channel garnered remarkably little attention, however, partly due to volatility of the crypto market’s recent conditions.
Why You Should Care
Sports memorabilia is expected to grow ten times by 2032, when the market cap of sports collectibles is estimated to be at $227 billion, of which sports NFTs represent a significant chunk.
Read more about the latest soccer NFT drops as the FIFA World Cup 2022 nears kick-off:
Visa (NYSE:V) and Crypto.com Launch NFTs for Soccer Fans Ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2022
Lionel Messi Joins Fantasy Soccer NFT Game Sorare