Mbappe Inspires 800% Sorare NFT Surge:
Kylian Mbappe is one of football’s leading lights: the French international is only 23 years of age, but already has four Ligue 1 titles, golden boots (including last season’s) and even a World Cup winners medal to his name. No surprise then, that his recent association with NFT football game Sorare has inspired a huge uptake for the project.
In order to fully contextualise how huge this is, we must first understand exactly who Mbappe is:
As football galacticos go, Kylian Mbappe is the most recent name on the list. Football has a habit of sensationalising tallent, often when the talent is not all that sensational, but footballers can build reputations as global icons, especially those with the tallent to back it up. Mbappe started his senior career with Ligue 1 club Monaco, where he made his professional debut at age 16: he won the Ligue 1 title, Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year, and the Golden Boy award. A genuinely phenomenal rookie season from a player who, from the start, has looked poised to catapult his career into football history.
Such talent obviously attracted interest from the big-boys and Mbappe left Monaco for rivals Paris Saint Germain (PSG) for a deal eventually worth €180 million plus add-ons (football transfers often include additional clauses that are triggered at professional milestones), which made Kylian the second most expensive player in football history and the most expensive teenager.
Mbappe is already sitting second in PSG’s all-time goalscorer list, and his presence in front of goal, as well as lightning pace and immaculate composure has generated interest from other clubs around the world, culminating in Mbappe agreeing terms with Real Madrid at the end of his PSG contract (set to expire in June 2022). Instead of joining Los Blancos, Mbappe signed a contract extension with Paris: the contract is reported to include a massive €100 million signing bonus and a salary worth €50 million, plus Mbappe now holds a sort of ‘Sporting Director’ role, where he can influence club decisions on coaches and transfers.
So why NFTs?
Mbappe’s monumental status as a footballer has of course put him in the stratosphere when it comes to fan engagement. He has 8.3 million followers on Twitter, 72 million on Instagram and monumental pull on games like Fifa Ultimate Team, where users can buy and sell players through an in game marketplace.
Last week, Sorare announced that they were partnering with Mbappe for a run of cards for their own P2P marketplace, which utilises NFTs and blockchain for in-game trading. This inclusion of one of the most high profile, hightalentt players has caused a huge spike in Sorare’s trading figures: data from Cryptoslam shows Sorare’s trading volume is up around 400% (at time of writing), but upon the initial announcement it surged by almost 800%.
This announcement is huge for a number of reasons: massive spikes in Sorare are massive for blockchain gaming, and the inclusion of one of sports’ biggest superstars brings massive exposure for NFTs at large. With NFT deals becoming increasingly common with footballers, leagues, governing bodies and more, football’s relationship with NFTs is only just beginning.
