Football clubs around the world are starting to join in the crypto revolution. Harunustaspor made football history when it completed the first ever player transfer using Bitcoin. Since then, clubs have gone on to make their own crypto history and the space is only getting more interesting as time passes. Sporting Portugal is one of the top teams from the Portuguese leagues and it’s launching its ICO as an alternative way to secure funding for the club’s future.
Not the First ICO to Secure the Future
Interestingly, Sporting Portugal isn’t the first football club to hold an ICO to raise funds for the club’s future. Back in September, Avai FC held an ICO to raise funds to give the club a better chance of surviving and progressing up the leagues. However, in the white paper very little is outlined in the way of technology and we could see this ICO go up in smoke with the securities commission clamping down on similar projects.
Club Ownerships Being Sold for Crypto
Clubs holding ICOs is one thing, but selling a slice of the club for cryptos is totally wild. Remini FC 1912 sold 25% of its shares to crypto magnate Pablo Victor Dana for his own cryptocurrency Quantacoin. Remini FC is the first team to be partially tokenized, but this new way of owning football clubs – or parts of any company for that matter – will become increasingly popular as the blockchain revolution continues to expand.
Fan Tokens Appearing
Fan tokens appear to be the next big thing in the football world. Top clubs like Paris Saint Germain and Juventus are both creating their own fan tokens, which fans can then buy and interact with the club on matters such as new kits and stadium music. While these cryptos only serve the purpose of voting tokens, more and more clubs are starting to implement them, so that fans feel part of the family and more involved than ever before.
Turning to Crypto as Banks Won’t Help
Sporting Portugal is going through a bit of a rough patch financially. It has already tried a €30 million bond issue with a very generous interest of 5.25% annually, but banks are refusing to sell the bond. This means that there is no help from financial institutions and this will make raising money through the bond very tough. This is also the reason the club is tuning to an ICO – it looks like a last resort. If the ICO and bond totally fail to raise funds, the club will be forced to sell some of its top players in order to stay afloat, otherwise this could be the end of Sporting Portugal.
Sporting is hoping for the crypto world to save its future, and this ICO is quite possibly its last chance. Perhaps football and crypto magnate Pablo Victor Dana will jump in and help save the club with his generous crypto buyout programs. The future of football funding is looking more likely to include cryptos in some way or another, how it will play out is going to be very interesting to see.
