Cristiano Ronaldo To Receive NFT Trophy as Alipay’s Euro 2020 Top Scorer

Juventus Star and Portugal National Team Captain, Cristiano Ronaldo, is set to receive an NFT trophy for ranking #1 at Alipay’s UEFA Euro 2020 Top Scorer Awards. This is the first time in history that the winner will also receive a digital trophy along with the awards. 

Cristiano Ronaldo’s NFT Trophy

UEFA Euro 2020 Series just crowned Italy as the new Champion after defeating England. UEFA Euro Top Scorer awards are a staple and recurring award after the games however this marks the first time that the winners will receive NFT trophies. This move by UEFA and Alipay proves the advancement of the crypto age. 

Despite appearing in only four matches, Ronaldo still reigned supreme after scoring five goals and one assist. Following Ronaldo in the Alipay Top Scorer ranking is Patrik Schick of the Czech Republic and Karim Benzema of France. 

Ant Group as Euro 2020’s Official Blockchain Partner 

Ant Group’s Alipay is sponsoring this year’s award. Thus, the scoring records of the top three scorers are now permanently embedded on the AntChain blockchain. In June of this year, UEFA entered a deal signing AntChain as the series’ official blockchain partner. The main goal of this partnership is to encourage blockchain usage in the football industry. 

Ant Group Chairman and CEO Eric Jing shared the future initiatives of the partnership. He said,  “Just as we have used blockchain technology to permanently preserve the wonderful scoring moments of the top scorers like him, we will also keep working with UEFA, to explore innovative digital solutions that improve fans’ experiences while enjoying football.”

AliPay is one of the world’s top payment and lifestyle platforms. The move to sponsor UEFA is in line with the company’s recent pivot towards NFTs. Alipay recently launched an in-app feature for the sale of NFTs. So it’s safe to assume that we’ll see more of AliPay in the NFT World.

Apart from UEFA, Formula 1 also signed up a global official cryptocurrency sponsor. Crypto.com signed up a $100M Deal with the pinnacle of Motorsport. Stella Artois released skins, horses, and beer artwork on the horse racing platform, Zed Run. This move aims to replicate its position as one of the leading sponsors in live sporting events into the sporting metaverse.

NFTs on the Football Field

Euro 2020 further electrified football-related NFTs. Italian football team captain Giorgio Chiellini released his first NFT collection on the new Blockasset marketplace. Sure enough, winning over England boosted his NFT drop. 

Meanwhile, Football Fantasy Blockchain platform FootballCoin launched a new version of its fantasy football game for EURO 2020. Unlike NBA Top Shot where users only collect sports cards, this platform allows players to build their card collection.

Finally, we can’t talk about Football related NFTs without mentioning runaway success, Sorare. At the height of Euro 2020, the fantasy football game went on a spree to sign up National Teams on top of its current 140 Clubs and Leagues. Sorare successfully signed up France, Germany, Belgium and Brazil.