Last Saturday (19), Binance closed the auction of the first NFT issued by the Federação Paulista de Futebol. The penalty kick goal by striker Evair, in the second game of the 1993 Paulistão final, which guaranteed the Paulista Championship title to Palmeiras, after a 17-year drought, was portrayed in an illustration by artist Pedro Nuin.
After five days of bidding, the work was sold at a premium of 110% over its initial value. The non-fungible token was the first of a total of five illustrations depicting great moments of the São Paulo championship that will be released.
The idea of creating NFTs of pictures of Paulistão moments to be traded on Binance’s platform is just a small example of what companies linked to blockchain and the crypto-active universe have up their sleeves. “We are going to consolidate the NFT technology this year. The idea is to show that Binance is not just a brokerage, but to reinforce that it is a whole blockchain ecosystem. We have plans, for example, to create NFTs of goals or bids in real time,” says Mayra Siqueira, general manager of Binance in Brazil.
About 30 days ago, the company agreed to sponsor the Paulistão championship this year and began to have its brand displayed on the stadium sponsorship panels. Before that, Binance had already agreed to sponsor Santos Futebol Clube, with the right to print its brand on their shirts and to commercialize and operate other products such as Fan Tokens and NFTs.
The main objective of Binance and other companies in the sector, especially those that work in the buying and selling of assets, be it Fan tokens, NFTs and, especially, crypto-currencies, is to popularize the blockchain concept among a public with a large number of participants and interested in everything their clubs produce. For some experts, consolidating the concept of the new technology among football enthusiasts is an important step towards the regulation of the sector, especially with regard to currency transactions.
Making the crypto and blockchain universe popular on the football platform would be a way to show regulators that the technology is user-friendly and, above all, safe. “We defend the regulation of the market. It is important that it occurs in Brazil, but respecting the freedom of users and the individualities of the technology,” says Mayra, from Binance, who is not yet based in Brazil.
But it is not only the blockchain giant that is aware of the potential of football and everything it has to offer. Before them, another cryptoactive exchange had already become the first company in the industry to sponsor a men’s football team in Brazil. In September last year, Brazilian MercadoBitcoin partnered with Corinthians until December this year and began trading the team’s Fan Token.
In January of this year, Mexican company Bitso agreed to a three-year sponsorship of São Paulo Futebol Clube, considering that the club was the first to accept cryptocurrencies when buying tickets and other items at the stadium. At the time, Beatriz Oliveira, Bitso’s Head of Marketing for Latin America recalled that the partnership marked the company’s entry into Brazilian soccer. “The partnership is much more than the logo on the shirt. Our goal is that crypto will be increasingly used in the world of sports and that we can bring more benefits, advantages, facilities and security,” said the executive at the time.
But it is not only Brazil that cryptoactive exchanges are looking at. In Mexico, Bitso already has an established presence on the football stage. The company is the sponsor of Tigres, one of the biggest teams in the country, and in January of this year it announced its sponsorship of the Mexican national team. The pitch to Mexican fans, featured a very similar narrative to the one adopted in Brazil, such as education on the subject and also the launch of a Fan Token of the national team.
The Crypto.com platform had already announced at the end of last year, the sponsorship of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL). In this partnership with the organizer of the biggest football tournament in the region, the innovation was the integration of the video arbitration system (VAR) of the Libertadores Cup, which would guarantee the company access to pitches that the broadcasters of the games do not have access to, at least not completely. In addition, the sponsorship includes exposure in the stadiums, events, broadcasts, and digital assets of the tournament.
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