After rejecting partnership offers from crypto firms like Binance and Polkadot, Spanish football giant FC Barcelona has announced that it will develop its own cryptocurrency and metaverse as a marketing strategy to attract new supporters.
While speaking at the Mobile World Congress recently, FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta said that the Catalan club will look to create their own crypto inorder to “survive financially.”
“We want to create our own cryptocurrency, and we have to do that ourselves. We are different because we survive financially from what we can generate through the industry of sport,” Laporta said at the conference held in Barcelona.
With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the revenue of football clubs across the globe, teams are looking at several different blockchain-based opportunities to engage with fans and boost their income.
“There has been a lot of attention on blockchain products and services such as NFTs and metaverse.
“We all know that the digital world will play a very important role in the coming year. We will soon be able to offer digital products to our members, to our fans and the fans of e-sports,” Laporta added.
A metaverse is defined as a three-dimension virtual space where users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users. Meanwhile, FC Barcelona is planning to make use of the metaverse to help its Esports teams and online video offerings.
President @JoanLaportaFCB explains to the #MWC22 Barça's commitment to the future and innovation pic.twitter.com/gG8nNoQVzK
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 28, 2022
Laporta further stated that Barca’s Studios audio-visual team is producing and commercializing content as well in the club’s bid to build its metaverse.
“There has been a lot of attention on blockchain products and services such as NFTs and metaverse.
“We all know that the digital world will play a very important role in the coming year. We will soon be able to offer digital products to our members, to our fans and the fans of e-sports,” Laporta added.
The club president went on to add that the Spanish outfit is already putting clauses in their players’ contracts “to control this new world of NFTs, the metaverse.”
In 2020, FC Barcelona was one of the first football clubs to form their own fan token (BAR).
FC Barcelona is one of the most successful European football clubs having won five UEFA Champions League titles, 26 La Liga crowns, 31 Copa del Reys, four UEFA Cup Winners' Cups, five UEFA Super Cups, three FIFA Club World Cups and 13 Supercopa de Españas.
Featured photo: LLUIS GENE / AFP
