The winners of this year’s Ballon d’Or, the top award for
individual footballers, will receive digital tokens to go with their gleaming
trophies, the organisers told AFP on Thursday.
The France-based award, run by the Equipe media group, has
feted the beautiful game’s best players for 66 years, bestowing on them global
acclaim and a trophy in the shape of a golden football.
But this year Equipe is seeking to move into the crypto
sector, offering a range of digital tokens (NFTs) — free for the winners but
with hundreds more being sold to the public.
Sport is awash with NFT projects as organisers, clubs and
players seek to cash in on their fame.
The tokens are pieces of computer code stored on a
blockchain, the digital ledger that holds information about digital assets.
They can be linked to a piece of art, a video game avatar or
a real-world object, as with the Ballon d’Or.
NFTs are generally bought by people who hope to sell them on
at a profit, their value based on supposed scarcity and collectability.
But the whole of the crypto sector has suffered a rout this
year with the value of currencies and assets such as NFTs taking a pummelling.
Nevertheless, Equipe said the Ballon d’Or NFTs were part of
a longer term strategy.
“This first collection will be followed by others as the
Ballon d’Or, and more broadly the Equipe and Amaury groups, wish to project
themselves in a sustainable way into the world of web3, the new age of
decentralised internet,” said the media group.
Equipe said it would auction three NFTs that would give the
holders “VIP access” to the awards ceremony on 17 October, followed by hundreds
more after the ceremony.
Karim Benzema, the France and Real Madrid striker, is
runaway favourite to win the men’s award this year.
Appropriately enough, he launched his own NFT collection
earlier this year.
AFP
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