Sorare, creator of the popular NFT fantasy football game, is now set to expand the game to Major League Baseball, partnering exclusively with the MLB and the MLB Players Association.
Sorare, known for its Ethereum-based NFT fantasy soccer game – one of the most popular on the blockchain – is broadening its portfolio with the addition of an MLB NFT fantasy collection. Co-founder and CEO Nicolas Julia drove the May 13 announcement:
MLB has been at the forefront of interactive games for decades … Today, as digital engagement and technology evolve for a new generation, our partnership will help a new and broader fanbase to connect with America’s pastime.
Nicolas Julia, CEO, Sorare
The project will be Sorare’s first new fantasy sport since its 2019 launch of fantasy soccer. Set to release this northern summer, the game will allow fans to build a team with the player NFTs they collect and enter those teams into tournaments. The results of the fantasy team will be based on the weekly performance of the real players.
Sorare’s Other Sports-Based NFTs
Sorare has been active in the sports NFT community, signing two new deals with the collection’s respective teams. In March, Sorare signed up MLS football league to its NFT fantasy football game. This time, US Major League Soccer joined the Sorare platform of collectibles – the first American league to join.
This month, Sorare is on the verge of closing a deal with the PGA Golf Tour. While the deal is yet to be finalised, Sorare is set to launch NFTs for the players, allowing them to earn revenue based on their NFTs’ sales performance.
Following the lead of major league baseball, basketball and various football codes, the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour is on the verge of launching NFT programs in concert with digital platforms Sorare and Autograph.
In a deal yet to be finalised, players stand to earn revenue based on the sales performance of NFTs using their name, image and likeness (NIL).
Autograph was co-founded last year by American football player Tom Brady as a platform for athletes and celebrities to market branded NFT collections, with former golf superstar Tiger Woods – among other sports celebrities – an equity holder and board adviser.
PGA Shoots for Fantasy Sports Par
Until now, Sorare has focused on soccer and acquired NFT video partnerships with major associations in Europe and the US. However, its main product is a digital fantasy sports game based on NFTs.
The Tour is also nearing a deal with Sorare for a fantasy NFT game. That's a big step for Sorare, too, as it expands beyond soccer (and wards off the likes of DraftKings).@Sean_Zak first reported the news, which sources confirmed for @Sportico.https://t.co/F5amG9iRwv
A deal with the PGA Tour for fantasy trading cards could lead to Sorare expanding into other sports. One of those is tennis, and to that end the company has signed multiple grand slam winner Serena Williams as an adviser.
Golf Perceived as ‘Crypto-Friendly’
With its appeal to a wealthy audience, golf is one of the more crypto-friendly sports. Market research shows that 37 percent of PGA Tour fans own crypto, compared to 32 and 27 percent of NBA and NFL followers, respectively. Another indicator is that golf startup LinksDAO raised US$11 million earlier this year to build a course.
“37% of PGA Tour fans own crypto compared to 32% of NBA fans and 27% of NFL followers. “ ⛳️👇 https://t.co/OYzRPGXiqT
Unlike team sports, the PGA needs only athletes’ individual approval to use their NIL. Golfers will have to “sign up” for Sorare to mint their trading cards or for Autograph to sell NFTs featuring their highlights packages.
NFT Royalties Tied to Performance
PGA Tour golfers who opt in will earn a lump sum based on their performance at the previous year’s FedEx Cup, the sport’s season-long points competition. Additionally, they will earn pro-rata royalty payments based on the market performance of their respective NFTs and trading cards. Golfers can still launch their own NFT collections, but they will not be allowed to use Tour-licensed images.
Young Swedish start-up GOALS has announced that its seed funding round netted a profit of US$15 million. The round was led by venture capital firm Northzone alongside the CEO of Sorare and its strategic adviser, a very well-known football player.
Introducing GOALS Play Lab! Our out of engine game visualizer.
Select your formation and which AI to use and then control the ball to verify that all players are moving in a nice way. Here running on stored match data.
The e-sports game features a play-to-own mechanism with players, clubs and skins available in the form of digital assets. This means that once you own one of these NFTs, it’s yours for as long as you wish to keep it – unlike soccer game giant FIFA, which only lets a player hold a skin for a limited time.
Barcelona Defender Gerard Pique Among the Donors
Despite being barely a year old – GOALS was founded in May 2021 – the venture is receiving a lot of support. Northzone, Cherry and Moonfire venture capital firms were just some of the notable names contributing to the seed funding round.
Nicolas Julia, CEO of Sorare (another prominent blockchain football game), and strategic adviser Gerard Pique, the famous Barcelona FC defender, were also among the donors.
Barcelona FC star defender Gerard Pique, who is also Sorare’s strategic adviser. Source: everythingbarca.com
GOALS is free to play, with the game taking a small cut of each marketplace transaction. You can check out the GOALS project trailer below:
Football Follows in Sorare’s Bootsteps
Sorare Crypto Fantasy Football paved the way for GOALS in the field of blockchain-based football games. The game enables fans to collect and trade player cards to compete for prizes. Since Sorare’s development in 2018, the game has gone from strength to strength, notably raising US$680 million in its September 2021 fundraising round.
If you’re interested in learning more about Sorare and how it works, Crypto News Australia has put together an independent review of the game. You can find it here.
Sorare has signed yet another football league to its non-fungible token (NFT) fantasy football game. US Major League Soccer (MLS) is the first American league to join the platform for digital football collectibles.
Football leagues across the globe are jumping on the NFT train by enabling a new level of participation and interaction with fans, with the novel technology gaining a lot of traction among sports fans and clubs.
As outlined in an MLS post, Sorare will become the league’s official fantasy football NFT game, adding new players to the fantasy league roster:
According to Chris Schlosser, MLS senior vice-president of enterprise ventures, “I think [digital] collectibles on their own are a really exciting opportunity, but generally, we’re starting to see more and more in this NFT-as-utility space where people want to use their NFTs to do things, and that’s what Sorare figured out early on.”
MLS is one of the fastest-growing football leagues in the US and has one of the youngest fan bases (average 39.6 years) of any major sports league in the US. According to an article by Forbes, millennials and gen-Zers account for 58 percent of MLS supporters, making NFTs a smart move to get in with the tech-savvy crowd.
US League Joins European Heavyweights
MLS will be joining more than 230 global football leagues, including European heavyweights Bundesliga, Laliga, and Bayern Munich. The platforms’ 350k monthly users across 184 countries will now be able to also collect and use NFTs from the MLS league.
Sorare is a fantasy football game built on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. The platform opens doors for users to buy, sell and trade NFTs of their favourite players to build their fantasy team. Scores are tracked based on real-life performances, and players win prizes based on their rank in the league.
The platform’s last funding round in late September 2021 saw it raise US$680 million, boosting its total valuation to US$4.3 billion.
We’re excited to continue our progressive approach to bring NFTs to MLS with industry-leader Sorare. Utilizing the latest technology to provide fans the opportunity to add MLS players and future stars to their personal collections and give them an interactive free-to-play fantasy soccer game made Sorare the obvious choice.
Chris Schlosser, SVP of emerging ventures, Major League Soccer
As the NFT boom continues, Formula One (F1) has cemented itself in the race to the blockchain as it launched its own non-fungible token (NFT) fantasy game, “DeltaTime”. F1 DeltaTime is built atop Ethereum and is based around the collection and trading of unique Formula One cars, drivers and components.
Get Your REVVs Up
The latest news from the F1 DeltaTime world is that it has now also introduced NFT staking. Consisting of two main play experiences, Collection and Competitive Racing Games, FI DeltaTime – with its native token REVV – utilises the Ethereum blockchain and runs off the ERC-20 standard. NFTs are available for purchase on OpenSea for relatively reasonable prices.
However, NFTs of some of the more famous characters in the racing world such as leading F1 driver Lewis Hamilton will run to about 8.99 ETH (approximately US$36,400). NFTs can also be purchased using the REVV token.
Lewis Hamilton NFT available for a cool US$36,400. Source: OpenSea
The Collectibles Game centres on trading rare virtual items including Cars, Drivers, Components and Trinkets, which adds gamification to the collection of NFTs, adding layers such as achievements and leaderboards.
Race Your Own NFT Car
Like traditional racing games, the “Racing Game” allows players to take their collectibles – cars, drivers trinkets and components – and manage them into a race-ready Grand Prix entrant. The game is presented to the player or the owner of the NFT as a 2.5D perspective overlooking a selected track and allowing players in command of their racing vehicle to control the car’s acceleration and braking.
For a handy tutorial on how to start racing, watch this YouTube video:
Stake Your Car for Rewards
Ending the year on a high note, F1 DeltaTime has announced a new pool of 1.5 million REVV available to be earned by players via staking. The game has also announced the SHRD token, a new P2E (play-to-earn) token now earnable in F1 Delta Time. Staking takes place for 28 days from December 9.
Staking in this instance refers to owners sending their car NFTs to a staking smart contract for a given period, where they will passively earn REVV from the token pool. While in staking, the NFT cannot be used in any of the gameplay modes.
Once staked, the NFTs cannot be unstaked or restaked for a 24-hour cooling off period. Earning is determined based on every 24-hour period a car remains staked. Owners can claim their staking rewards after the entire staking period has ended.
Get ready to Stake!🔥 Staking goes live tomorrow on: ➡️➡️➡️9th December at 8am UTC! ⬅️⬅️⬅️
There are no signs of a slowdown as the world of NFTs continues to throw up innovative and interesting projects, among which fantasy NFTs games remain one of the most popular.
Amid the rise of blockchain-based fantasy NFT games and fantasy football games, Sorare has been one of the biggest on the front, raising US$680 million in a historic Series B funding round in an effort to expand its game.
To learn more about the most interesting NFT projects set to launch, from P2E to metaverse, Crypto News Australia has published a helpful guide.
Sorare is back at it again, this time signing another partnership deal with the major German football league, Bundesliga, as well as Bundesliga 2. The deal will also debut the video-type Bundesliga “NFT Moments” on the platform.
Deal Follows Partnership with La Liga
Sorare, one of the major players in the non-fungible token (NFT) sports space, has added its second high-profile football league to a growing list of partners. The deal will allow fans to play and trade with new NFTs from Bundesliga (first division) and Bundesliga 2 (second division), with the collectibles poised to launch by the end of this month.
After announcing its partnership with La Liga on September 9 and with its newest German addition, Sorare now represents over 200 clubs, a major breakthrough as it approaches its goal of partnering with the top 20 leagues in the world.
The Bundesliga is one of the best leagues in the world, home to some of the most exciting clubs and footballers on Earth […] We are very proud to partner with them to launch our first NFT Moments – we are building the future of fandom together.
Nicolas Julia, Sorare CEO
Bundesliga Moments Launch in 2022
We are honoured to announce that the @Bundesliga_DE is joining the Global Fantasy Football game! 🌍
Where each match day is a festival and the moments are everlasting. 🔥
Sorare Bundesliga Moments will be launched in 2022 with the company also stating that “if there is a moment from the current Bundesliga season that you think deserves its [own] NFT, let us know on Twitter using #SorareMoments”, giving fans direct input into the minting of NFTs.
Player Pool Expands Along With the Company
Players who want to experiment with their fantasy football teams now have many to pick from with the addition of world-class football clubs such as Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Wolfsburg and Union Berlin. The platform also stated that at the moment there are no immediate plans to release Bundesliga 2 cards.
The Bundesliga holds the accolade for the highest average attendance in football stadiums. The German football league generated approximately US$4.5 billion in revenue during its 2020-21 season, reflecting fans’ commitment to their favourite clubs.
As the company expands, adding more clubs to its list of partners in Sorare’s fantasy football game also expands the pool of players users can choose from to add to their fantasy football teams. Last month, Sorare raised US$680 million in a series B funding round for the project.
We are delighted to be partners with such a dynamic and exciting company. NFTs are a digital technology of the future that should not be underestimated – especially in the sport sector. I am therefore convinced that this collaboration will give rise to further impulses.
Sorare, the NFT-based fantasy football game, has recently ended its latest fundraising round to the count of US$680 million. The capital gained from the Series B funding round provides the means to create the next giant in sports entertainment.
A Historic Fundraiser
The record-breaking funding round is the largest in the history of French tech and the biggest in Europe for a Series B.
Today marks a historic day for the sports, gaming and #NFT communities. 🚀
The fundraiser was joined by several interested parties, including Atomico, Bessemer Ventures, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, and football players Gerard Piqué, Rio Ferdinand, Antoine Griezmann and César Azpilicueta.
In February, the platform announced it had raised US$50 million in Series A funding from renowned investors such as Benchmark (investor in Twitter, Snap, Instagram or Discord), Antoine Griezmann, Rio Ferdinand, Oliver Bierhoff, Alexis Ohanian and Gary Vaynerchuck.
This shows a massive increase in interest from investors towards the fantasy football game.
Sorare Growing Fast
Sorare’s user base has grown by 900 percent in the past year, with 177 officially licensed clubs including some of the most famous in Europe, such as Real Madrid, Liverpool and Juventus, 6000 licensed footballers, and 600,000 registered users making waves in the NFT and sports industry. Check out Crypto News Australia‘s independent review of the football trading card game.
The Sorare platform.
The platform has also recently signed a five-year partnership with La Liga and is looking to give back to the people by lending support to community led-football programs, aspiring entrepreneurs, and women in sport.
Sorare Set For Major Expansion
This funding will help deliver its key objective, which is to create the next world champion in sports entertainment by leveraging NFTs. To achieve this, the funds have been allocated to:
Sign new partnerships: bringing the top 20 football leagues onboard along with the top 50 national teams.
Speed up mobile and marketing: the fantasy game will be a mobile first experience that fans globally can play.
Expand into new sports: Sorare has received interest from leagues and fans worldwide to replicate its model in other sports, and plans to roll out new sports in 2022.
Built on the Ethereum blockchain, the platform used to suffer high transaction costs at high volume, though with layer-2 technology called Starkware it has helped to scale transactions and keep gas fees low to curb the problem.
Crypto News Australia also has a guide for beginners and fans who are interested in fantasy football, with the twist of trading and selling NFTs to gain added value from the hobby.
The Sorare game economy is based on the Ethereum (ETH) cryptocurrency. To play the game to its full potential, you’ll need to buy some ETH or deposit some from your external crypto wallet. See options and video tutorials below to see how to do it.
You have two options:
Buy ETH directly through the website using the Ramp service with your credit/debit card or bank deposit.
Transfer your ETH from your exchange (ie Binance or Coinbase) to a wallet below and then deposit from that wallet into Sorare.
Popular wallet options:
MetaMask (my preferred option; you’ll need the Brave web browser because MetaMask is a browser extension which can connect directly with the Sorare website).
Coinbase wallet (best option for Apple mobile phones or if you already have a Coinbase account).
Trust Wallet (best option for Android mobile phones – deposit using Wallet Connect option).
Important to note:
You cannot sent ETH directly to your Sorare account; you’ll need to use either MetaMask or Trust Wallet to connect and deposit.
All the wallet options above do not allow you to buy crypto directly. If you are looking to do this, then check out The Best Exchanges For Australia guide.
If you’re not interested in taking crypto out of your account, you probably won’t need an external wallet as you can buy directly with Ramp.
You cannot use MetaMask on mobile phones or iPads.
Using MetaMask
Using Coinbase wallet
Using Trust wallet
Account Security
Absolute must:
Set up your 2-Auth login using Google Authenticator
This will add extra security to your account as you must enter a four-digit code every time you log in, preventing unauthorised access. To set this up, click your profile picture > settings > 2 factor authentication. Then download Google Authenticator App on your mobile phone and scan the QR code and enter the code. That’s it; next time you log in, open the app on your phone and enter the code.
Optional:
Write down your Sorare private key and keep it safe on a piece of paper (this is your access to your digital wallet). To access your private key, click on your wallet top right a> clog symbol > private key.
Set up a Ramp account and deposit a small amount (they will use your card to verify your account should you lose your phone and are unable to access your 2-Auth code – read more about account recovery).
Before You Buy Cards
Before buying cards on Sorare, here are a few things to consider and some screenshots below which show where to find it.
Check the price history – the Sorare data website shows the previous recent sales so you can gauge if you’re getting a good deal.
Check the season on the card – the newer season cards score +5% more points.
Check the player’s XP – a player with a higher level scores more bonus points.
Check the news – is your player injured?
Check the player’s recent scores – how well has he performed? Does he play for an international team? Does he play in Euro comps?
Check the league coverage – are the player’s scores covered by Sorare? If not, they won’t score you any points!
Sorare data card information
Sorare player card sale
Checking news to see there is an injury
Scouting Cards
As mentioned before, the website soraredata.com is the place to go to do your scouting and check player card statistics.
Soraredata player performance history
The Card Finder tool is particularly useful to find best performing cards for the S05 competitions. You can create a watchlist by clicking the heart icon and then using this filter to keep track of when the players you want are on sale.
You can also use the Lineup builder tool to see if you have enough players for a gameweek for all your competitions (to find it:go to soraredata.com > login with your Sorare account > click on your profile name > My lineup builder).
Soraredata lineup builder
Training Players XP
The game has a training competition where you can add your unused players to gain XP, improving their scoring potential. Don’t forget that you can enter multiple teams into training to make use of your non-playing cards to increase their XP and potential sale value. Also if you want to enter multiple teams you’ll need a lot of super cheap goalkeepers that probably don’t play but can be used to create full training teams.
Sorare special training competition
There are 3 types of XP
Captain – 20%
Season Bonus – 5% if the card is from the current season
Level bonus, which depends on the XP your card has gained and its scarcity, eg, rare, super rare, unique.
The fantasy points scoring system Sorare uses is different to other common fantasy football games. The score is calculated from Opta stats, the same stats used by a wide range of applications from news sites to betting websites.
Many users on Sorare have openly stated that they think this scoring system is better than FPL, as it give those defensive players more opportunity to get points other than for just scoring or assisting a goal.
For a full breakdown on player scoring, see the article Sorare Scoring System Explained by Draft Gym, or watch the video below:
Winning Cards in Competitions
Along with multiple competitions you can enter on the Sorare main website, there are some partner websites where you can also win cards.
SorareMega has a few free competitions where you can enter your cards. It’s pretty easy; you just log in with your Sorare account and then choose your cards to enter. If your players perform well, you could win a free card!
Bidding Fraudsters
If you receive a bid, double-check the ETH value and don’t misclick low ETH offers for your players. Some idiots are placing low bids to try to get people to accept them by a drunk misclick. It has happened.
The same guy is now named Panati / GER, he just stole an other card, Tielmans Rare for 0.032, we must react. A thought for the manager who has just been victim of this scam. 💪@SorareHQ@dansorare@ni2lashttps://t.co/lE59o4fkb9
Sorare has an official Discord channel where over 16,000 managers are discussing the game and engaging as part of a community. There are a lot of useful channels in the discord, such as announcements, feedback, support, player news and more.
If you go to the #for-sale channel you can find managers posting their cards for sale. If you see something you like, you can then send them a direct message on discord and start the negotiations. I find this a useful way to get good bundle deals from managers looking to get some quick ETH.
Sorare on discord #for-sale channel
Personal Tax Reporting
Tax, everyone’s favourite subject – but it’s worth mentioning that in most countries cryptocurrencies are now being targeted by the tax department.
Technically, every blockchain transaction is a taxable event, so you are liable to pay a capital gains tax on your profit (depending on your country and personal circumstances). See the Australian tax laws guide for more info.
Personally, I keep a record of deposits and withdrawals in/out of my Sorare account for my tax reporting to send to my accountant come tax time.
What to record:
Date (of transaction)
From account (ie MetaMask wallet, Binance or Bank account)
To account (ie Sorare account)
Crypto coin symbol and amount (ie 0.2 ETH)
Amount AUD (equivalent value in your local currency)
Fees AUD (you might be able to claim these back!)
Transaction link (blockchain explorer link as proof)
Having these records will definitely save time and headaches in the long run, and is also a handy reference to see how you’re performing financially.
Hope this has guide helped you; be sure to check out the Full Sorare Review if you want to find out more, including an FAQ section. If I missed something you think might be useful for beginners, please contact me on Twitter using the link below.
In a massive September 9 announcement, the blockchain-based fantasy football project Sorare has officially partnered with Spanish football league La Liga.
The event was streamed live on Twitch where ambassador superstars Samuel Eto’o and Patrick Kluivert were hosts.
Aujourd’hui @LaLiga annonce un partenariat unique avec @SorareHQ 🔥
J’étais présent au lancement et j’ai eu la chance de découvrir le monde des #NFT et comment #Sorare est en train de créer une connection entre fans et joueurs à travers un jeu de fantasy football!⚽️ pic.twitter.com/GYfpIhHE6j
They have onboarded all 20 La Liga teams’ player cards onto the platform with notable teams including Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Athletico Madrid. There are now over 200 teams on the platform.
La Liga is one of the best leagues in the world, home to some of the most exciting clubs and footballers on Earth. We are very proud that they have chosen Sorare to enter the world of NFTs. We are looking forward to working together in the years ahead.
CEO Nicolas Julia
This news follows other recent news that users on Sorare grew over 900% since the start of 2021. The growth has been helped by the popularity of Ethereum, which has seen thousands of NFT projects using its blockchain utility framework.
The Sorare game is very similar to Fantasy Premier League, or Football Manager, but with some slight differences:
You own the players’ cards on the blockchain, which can be traded with other managers worldwide
Your players score points from real life games across 35 leagues and competitions
Gamers spend $100b+ yearly buying game items they don't own, can't trade, can't use freely. NFTs will change this for good. You should have the same level of freedom in the digital space & the physical one.#OwnYourGame
A new era of blockchain-based fantasy sports is emerging, pioneered by Sorare, a fantasy game of football where players buy, sell, trade and manage a virtual team with digital player cards.
NFT Football Trading Platform Sorare
According to Sorare data, at the start of the year there were 3055 users owning at least one NFT; that number has since risen to over 30,553 users, a 900% increase.
Headquartered in Paris, France, the company has recently raised over €50 million to further establish and expand the game to a wider global audience. A notable investor in the Sorare project is Alexis Ohanian, Reddit co-founder and chairman, who has openly stated that NFTs will also be big for women’s sports.
Ethereum-Powered Ecosystem
Launched in 2019, the game uses Ethereum blockchain technology and layer-2 scaling through Starkware to achieve a seamless gaming experience which is fast and easy to play.
This technology will allow Sorare to scale its platform to support millions of users with very low gas fees and achieve 9,000 transactions per second.
The NFTs are minted and stored on the Ethereum blockchain through the ERC-721 SOR token. The wallet private key can be exported from the game into a wallet enabling the NFTs to be sold on other NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea or Rarible.
Some of the Unique cards (1 mint / colour brown) have sold for substantial sums, with the unique Ronaldo card, for example, selling for 52.885 ETH (approximately A$114k). Others such as Kylian Mbappé sold for A$88k back in November 2020.
WOW! The Cristiano Ronaldo 2020/21 Unique Card just sold for €84,409.08 (52.885 ETH)! 🚀 Huge congratulations to the proud owner, who also has the previous season's Unique CR7! 🔥🔥https://t.co/RgyL8HzXY4
Other than the collectible aspect, 99% of NFTs have no utility and no use other than for social profile avatars, or to sell on to the next person.
Sorare and other platforms such as Axie Infinity have re-invented the usefulness of NFTs, allowing you to actually use them in competitions to earn rewards.
Nice to be able to put 4 teams out again on @SorareHQ no room for J.Russell (DNP?) Hradecky, Ordets and Cervantes (DNP?) at present! Fingers crossed for a prize or two 🎁 #Sorarepic.twitter.com/Sm8kXwk3x3
Cards can also be bought and sold in the player auctions, and direct manager-to-manager exchanges for cards or ETH.
Sorare player auctions example
Some managers are flipping cards to try to make a profit, utilising their football knowledge to buy players who they think will do well and then selling them once they post good scores.
The NFTs can also be used in external side games such as SorareMega, where you can also enter a team into competitions. This allows the NFTs to be used across multiple platforms in the future, only adding to their utility.
Sorare Mega NFT competition platform
Projects like Sorare have been largely flying under the radar, and with a flurry of new NFT projects set to launch in the next 12 months we could see blockchain tokens become the new standard when it comes to fantasy sports through 2022.
