Football Token Market Exceeds $1,9 Billion

Football fans have purchased more than $370 million worth of tokens from their favorite clubs.

Fans of 24 different clubs from five major European leagues spent $376 million to buy fan tokens. This conclusion was reached by analysts from Protos, who reviewed this market for BBC News.

To date, no more than 20% of all issued tokens have been sold, and others remain under the control of the clubs. Their total value exceeds $1,9 billion. 

Tokens worth about $300 million are sold through the Socios platform, running on the Chiliz blockchain, an Ethereum sidechain. The Maltese Mediarex Group owns both companies. Most club tokens are issued through Socios. 

ERC-20 tokens give owners small perks. For example, these include 5% discounts in digital stores, possibilities to win tickets or to take part in votes on minor issues, such as choosing what song should be played in the stadium as the players walk out. Specific bonuses offered to token holders are set by the clubs. 

However, Protos analysts believe that these tokens are used primarily as speculative assets. For instance, the largest number of tokens was sold by Italian Lazio (~$130 million), but since the end of the first day of trading, they have fallen in price by 70%. Other assets, on the contrary, show explosive growth: tokens of two clubs, Inter Milan and Turkish side Trabzonspor, have grown in value more than BTC over the last year. 

We asked a Reddit user, who writes a lot about fan tokens, to comment on his hobby:

“Fans can make good money on these tokens. Their price greatly depends on the team’s success on the field. So if you keep a close eye on the season, tokens allow you to make a profit and support your favorite team.”