The offer is called fan tokens, and the digital currency is currently establishing itself at some clubs. Italy’s league leaders Inter Milan even advertise the “$ Inter Fan Token” on their jersey. An offensive offer to all Inter fans to buy fan tokens (a kind of digital credit) from their favorite club – or rather: to invest in the fan token. These are then traded on crypto exchanges like the common crypto currencies Bitcoin, Ethereum and Co.
But it is a speculative investment in a volatile environment. Because what is sometimes neglected in advertising for an investment in the heart club is a corresponding warning. The English Arsenal FC recently felt this – because the supervisory authority of the British advertising industry banned the club from advertising the “$ AFC Fan Token” via Facebook. In two cases, buyers were misled and insufficiently informed about the risks of crypto trading. “Inexperience or gullibility” are being exploited, it was criticized.
Strong, unpredictable momentum
But why is trading so risky? For the issue of fan tokens, clubs usually enter into partnerships with companies that handle the trade. Socios.com is currently the flagship – the platform works with many players in European club football – according to the company, there are currently 15 leagues worldwide. Of course, other sports and leagues are also involved – a deal was recently concluded with several teams from the US National Hockey League (NHL).
If you are in possession of fan tokens from an issuing club, only short-term tendencies become clear when you look at the price development. Like established cryptocurrencies, fan tokens are impossible to predict foreseeable influences on the crypto market – sporting success or failure are not reliable factors. Rapid growth, but also rapid losses in a short time, are possible. And market participants who speculate and buy or sell at short notice are fueling this dynamic.
Just a marketing gag?
However, the participating football clubs do not primarily offer investors the prospect of financial opportunities – instead, in the eyes of many fans, they see something else of value: participation and a say. And with it, of all things, what many are increasingly missing in modern football. But those of good faith will be disappointed with the common promises: designs for club buses and changing rooms, selection of the goal anthem, messages to players – things of manageable relevance.
So all just a marketing gag that brings the clubs and their marketing partners easy money in times of pandemic-related failures in ticket sales? Or is it really a way with new opportunities to involve the fans more closely in the fortunes of their favorite clubs? In any case, it seems clear which fans the clubs could be about. Because trading in fan tokens is of course a global business – in the eyes of some clubs, it is probably an asset for the important Asian market.
Dortmund ultras on barricades
But what supporters from China could ideally see as an expression of closer ties with the club that is so far away has already caused upheavals in Europe in some cases. One example can be found in Dortmund, for example: when Borussia there approached the idea of entering the token business a year ago and held an initial sales phase, parts of the organized fan scene rose to the barricades.
“Stop the marketing mania – pulverize fan tokens” read a banner from the influential ultra group The Unity. After the talks between fans and club officials, the club called off the token experiment. In any case, at no time had it been planned to “cede relevant decision-making powers to international fans for money”, Dortmund’s managing director Carsten Cramer tried to reassure him. One could “understand many points of criticism”.
The Messi Effect fizzled out
But arguments of this kind are not even rudimentary in other clubs. Occasionally, advertising campaigns for the crypto-idea bore strange flowers: for example, when Lionel Messi was transferred to Club Paris Saint-Germain, which is financed and controlled by Qatar, it was announced that the Argentine had received a “large number” of “PSG fan tokens” when he signed the contract – in which one The extent was of course not known.
Messi is the first professional soccer player in the world to be paid with tokens, PSG and the Socios.com platform claimed in a press release. PSG’s token had risen by over 130 percent to just under 50 US dollars in the days before. But the Messi Effect in the crypto world fizzled out as quickly as it came: A week after the high, the price was around $ 32 – and that was just the beginning of the crash. The price of the “PSG Fan Token” is currently around 15 US dollars.
Just the beginning?
But providers such as Socios.com or the participating clubs reassure themselves with the argument that the value or number of tokens are not primarily important for the opportunity to participate in the fortunes of the club. The spin: just one token is enough for participation. But when it comes to the connection between the world of sports and the crypto world, there are only slight harbingers in the game – there is still a lot of room for improvement.
It seems appropriate to fear that such mechanisms, which may be much more important in the future, could then also decide on really relevant accesses such as ticket issuance – and then eager token buyers or even companies with their economic interests would have an advantage. But before tokens become a factor to be taken seriously, they should be one thing above all else: an “entry drug” for football fans into the crypto market.
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