The German Football Association (DFB) has officially announced the debut of national soccer team nonfungbile tokens (NFTs) in partnership with a major blockchain-based fantasy soccer game provider Sorare.

As part of an official license agreement, the DFB will create digital collectible cards on the Ethereum blockchain of 18 players on the German national team through Sorare’s platform. According to an announcement from Sorare, the cards will be available for use in Sorare’s Global Fantasy Football game for the Euro 2020 soccer championship.

By issuing player NFT cards on Sorare’s platform, the DFB aims to find new revenue streams as well as provide more fan engagement opportunities, particularly as COVID-19-related restrictions have resulted in limited game attendance in recent months. 

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“Especially in the Corona pandemic, digital offers were and are the only way to enter into direct exchange with our fans. But even though the Corona crisis will hopefully soon be over, we want to continue to use the possibilities of digitalization much more intensively, also with our partners, and offer our fans new interactive opportunities,”  said Holger Blask, the DFB’s managing director of marketing and sales.

Founded in 2018, Sorare is a global fantasy football game that allows users to play with officially licensed digital cards featuring 140 football clubs including Liverpool, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus and PSG. Last week, the French Football Federation launched its own series of player NFTs prior to the team’s match against Germany.