Cryptocurrency start-ups have long been of interest to various entrepreneurs and celebrities. But lately, more and more projects are starting to collaborate with football players. And this is quite understandable because football is the most popular sport. Let’s talk about how cryptocurrencies connect to this game.
Promotion of projects
Here are some examples of successful promotion. Coach and ex-football player Harry Redknapp once mentioned Electroneum cryptocurrency on his Twitter page. Its number of users increased more than double in a week, from 60,000 to 130,000. The founder of Electroneum expressed his gratitude to Harry and stressed that the former athlete simply liked the project and that he received nothing for advertising.
Today, professional football players are increasingly participating in ICOs. The reason is simple: marketers who want to increase sales do everything to sign contracts with sports stars who have millions of followers on social networks and are widely known.
Most recently, for example, Eden Azar has been promoting the blockchain platform AllSports, which aims to become a full-fledged football ecosystem and gaming hub. The Belgian is a player for Real Madrid, a Spanish team with a rich history and millions of fans around the world. You can bet on the matches of this and other top clubs at favourable odds at bookmakers listed on https://bookmaker-ratings.com/.
Sergio Agüero, a former Barcelona, Manchester City and Atletico player, also promotes AllSports.
Even Ballon d’Or winner Luis Figo recently joined the ICO’s promotional game. The Portuguese ended his football career back in 2008 when he played for Italian side Inter, but he has lost none of his business appeal for marketers at Stryking Entertainment. This platform by Football-Stars allows users to tokenise their favourite players and make a profit based on match results. However, things are not all rosy: after some time with the platform, Figo revealed that he never actually owned STRYKZ tokens, which he promoted with great enthusiasm.
Arsenal London have a contract with CashBet. It is an online casino that has its cryptocurrency. The company’s logos have appeared in the club’s home arena. Thanks to this and other successful marketing projects, CashBet ended the ICO with a profit of $38m.
And famed French PSG and Argentina forward Lionel Messi was the face of SIRIN Labs’ advertising campaign for its FINNEY crypto-smartphone.
Footballers’ cryptocurrencies
With around 20 million followers on Twitter, Jamez Rodriguez is one of the most famous personalities in Colombia. He uses his rich fan audience to promote his project and token JR10. Jamez has become the first athlete to essentially start releasing money.
There’s not much information yet on exactly how this token can be used. Of course, Rodriguez, whose main activity is playing football, was not the main developer. The company behind the JR10 token is SelfSell, which uses the collaboration with the Colombian to promote itself. According to a press release, the firm is in the business of creating individual tokens for a variety of purposes.
Former Liverpool player Michael Owen also has his tokens, which go by the name OWN. He was assisted in the launch by Singapore startup GCOX. The ex-football player has specified a fairly narrow use for his money: the purchase of football paraphernalia or voluntary donations for various football-related purposes.
These are just a few examples of the interaction between football and cryptocurrencies. We are sure that over time, these two areas will overlap even more often.
