Eredivisie goes digital with global fantasy football game Sorare

Eredivisie card collectors and fantasy football gamers will be able to freely buy, sell, and play with digital cards of players from the Eredivisie, such as Ajax’s David Neres, PSV’s Donyell Mallen and Feyenoord’s Marcos Senesi. Each card is scored based on the performance of the player in real-life during the match day.

Since it opened its beta in December 2019, Sorare has grown an average of 44% month on month, and today counts over 70.000 users worldwide, with over $9 million in cards sold across 100 countries. The Eredivisie is the 4th league joining Sorare after Belgium’s Pro League, South Korea’s K League, Japan’s J League and the United States’s MLSPA.  

Sorare CEO Nicolas Julia comments: “Millennials are increasingly tuning out of longer sports broadcast formats that don’t engage them. In an economy where the attention of audiences is the single most important unit of currency, games are becoming a new avenue for football brands to reach this highly specific yet desirable demographic.”  

The Eredivisie can further expand its international brand and the brands of the 18 clubs composing the league1 by reaching several untapped audiences of fans: gamers globally as well as growing their fan base in Asia and America where Sorare is growing strongly.  

Marc Rondagh, Business Development Manager Eredivisie CV, explains: “Our decision was largely driven by our excitement for their ambitious vision of building a global fantasy football game with digital cards. At the forefront of innovation, we are always looking ahead, looking to the future, to offer our fans new experiences. To constantly improve them, and to offer better coverage for the brands of our clubs, Sorare will enable us to reach out to new, young communities, especially in Asia and America. We are proud of this new collaboration.” 

Sorare is also effectively opening up a new revenue stream for the Eredivisie by creating a new game licensing category: fantasy football licensing. Nicolas Julia adds: “Given the current climate, this provides a new opportunity for football leagues to create interest when live games have been significantly impacted. It offers football clubs a way to diversify their revenue streams.” 

While football collectors have been able to collect and trade player cards for decades, this was limited to the physical world. Sorare is a global fantasy game that brings people together, especially in times of isolation, through their sports fandom. The fantasy managers buy digital cards of players for the same reasons they buy cards offline - status, differentiation, identity, and membership. Cards are about the nostalgic factor. This also offers the most direct way of investing in the upside of a sports player. The Mbappé Unique card sold for $65.000. The Ethereum blockchain is used to establish who owns the digital card at any given time and secures the cards’ digital scarcity. It creates a new level of trust and freedom for gamers.  

More than 120 football clubs from Europe, the United States, and Asia have partnered with Sorare to issue officially licensed cards so that football fans can collect and play with their favorite players. See all licensed clubs on Sorare here.