FC Barcelona enters the metaverse and the NFT

FC Barcelona, ​​the football club with a huge following in Spain and Europe, has revealed its plans to capitalize on the rise of the metaverse and NFTs in the cryptocurrency market. Joan Laporta, president of the club, explained how it intends to occupy all these markets to attract more fans from all over the world.

FC Barcelona explores growth options

FC Barcelona,​​one of the most influential football clubs in Spain and Europe, has announced its intention to expand into new areas of business, including metaverse and NFT. The purpose of the expansion is to increase club engagement through the use of these new technologies. Joan Laporta, president of the club, spoke about the next moves the club will make and stated:

In recent times, a lot of attention has been paid to blockchain products and services such as NFT and metaverse. We must be able to offer digital products to our members, to our fans, that align with the club's value and generate a very interesting emotional experience.

Laporta also announced that the club is studying to release its first NFT release soon, without giving further details on that.

Expansion through technology

FC Barcelona,​​​a club with more than 120 years of history, is already contemplating the introduction of these new technologies to generate income and loyalty from fans around the world. Laporta also hinted at the possibility of launching a cryptocurrency issued by the club itself, instead of the fan that is already available, issued in partnership with Socios.

The club is already building infrastructure to support this new path with the launch of Barca Studios, to centralize the production of the team’s entire audiovisual offer, and also the Barça Innovation Hub, to introduce new technologies into the team’s workflow.

Laporta said the team is definitely focused on expanding to offer new products and services tied to new technologies to stay relevant. The club president stated:

We want to generate new growth opportunities. Our goal is to win titles and make our fans happy, but we also have to take advantage of opportunities in the sports industry. It's a matter of survival.

According to a report released in August, Europe’s top clubs collectively earned $200 million from the run of fan tokens on the Socios platform, with clubs increasingly seeing the creation of such assets as a lucrative activity.