The blockchain platform Sorare is trying to combine football cards with the blockchain technology
and hopes to create a product from which many people can benefit. They are backed by a couple of prominent investors.
Most people are familiar with the soccer trading cards or have had them in the past. Nicolas Julia and
Adrien Montfort want to digitize and expand these cards. In an interview with Krypto-Magazin, Nicolas Julia talks about the project's beginnings, how he came to this topic, and how it has evolved.
The Project Sorare
Nicolas Julia was Vice President of Operations at the French blockchain company Stratumn.
There he met Adrien Montfort, who was leading a crypto-engineering team at Stratumn at that
time. In the summer of 2019, they decided to leave the company to create a crypto product that
can benefit many people: Sorare.
Sorare acquires the players' image rights from the football clubs and sells the "blockchain cards" at an online auction. Compared to the classic football cards, the digital ones are not sold in surprise packages. Instead, a user decides on which card/player they want to bid. Some also see these cards as an investment, as the price of a single card can rise and fall. Thanks to the blockchain technology, it is always documented who the owner of a particular player is.
The cards can not only be collected but also used in a reality-based competition. The evaluation
of players is based on their real-life achievements (for example, duels won or goals scored). Accordingly, the player's "blockchain card" receives points. The user who has collected the most
points at the end of the game day receives new cards.
More about the project
The project is supported, among others, by football world champion André Schürrle and the
prominent start-up investor Christian Miele. Together with other investors, they have invested
four million dollars in the start-up and believe in the future of the project:
"We trust Nicolas Julia to redefine the digital collector market in Europe. In the long term, all sports clubs will work with start-ups like Sorare. Sorare enables interaction with football madmen as well as with skilled collectors and investors". - Christian Miele
In December 2019, there were 700 active users, today there are more than 3000, and sales have
also risen from 30,000 euros a month to 350,000 euros. This is because some people are crazy
about the trading cards from Sorare and also spend a lot of money on rare cards. For
example, a unique collector's card from Juventus Christiano Ronaldo was sold for 12,000
euros, says Julia.
In the meantime, 100 soccer clubs from all over the world are already represented on the
platform. Sorare's goal is to continuously develop the project and integrate additional leagues
and clubs on the platform:
"Paris Saint-Germain is this year's Champions League finalist with incredible players in the team like Neymar and Mbappé. It is an honor to have them with us as the 100th licensed club. Paris Saint-Germain is the sixth-largest club in the world. When such a world-class club becomes part of the game and talks about it, it helps raise awareness and make people aware of the benefits of a blockchain". - Nicolas Julia
