Fantasy football is a favorite pastime for millions of football enthusiasts worldwide. In 2023, fantasy sports and blockchain technology crossed paths through the innovative new platform, Sorare. This guide explores the potential of this blockchain-based fantasy sports platform and considers the potential of the platform in the long term.
Fantasy football on the blockchain: an overview
Fantasy football: it’s a market with rapidly increasing value. A report by Allied Market Research predicts the value of fantasy sports is set to grow to $50 billion by 2027. Now, the introduction of blockchain technology opens a new world of opportunities for football lovers to explore.
The merger between fantasy football and blockchain technology creates many opportunities, both for users and for the widespread adoption of web3 technologies. Some inherent benefits that users can access include increased security, transparency, and global access to games.
There’s a whole new audience out there — this sort of collaboration is set to introduce fantasy football enthusiasts to the world of NFTs. These digital collectibles can represent players, teams, and other collectible items. Users can own and trade their digital assets, potentially for profit.
Traditionally, one of the core dynamics of fantasy football is the connection of football enthusiasts across the globe. Yet due to geographical restrictions, most players remain locked out of different leagues and competitions. These barriers are broken with blockchain-based platforms such as Sorare.
Players from different parts of the world can join and participate in different leagues and competitions. The enhanced level of access opens a new window of opportunity for users to join the global football community.
Blockchain’s arrival into the fantasy football world can also increase security and transparency in the game. A blockchain is essentially an immutable digital ledger. In this context, this ledger can record infinite data about players, leagues, stats, player cards, and virtual soccer teams. Therefore, it becomes impossible for third parties to corrupt this data for their benefit.
How does Sorare work?
Sorare provides a unique but familiar gaming experience. It is backed with blockchain technology yet still retains its fundamentals as a fantasy football game. The fantasy football platform lets players buy or sell digital collectibles as NFTs.
These NFTs represent real-world football players. Note that these NFTs are unique, and only a single person can possess a particular player. Thus, this makes each one highly sought-after.
In addition, each NFT owns significant statistics and stats that reflect the player’s performance during a season. Some relevant stats included in the overall performance include goals, assists, or clean sheets.
The platform uses a simple interface that new users can easily navigate. Therefore, users can freely navigate different leagues and competitions on the platform. For example, you can select players from the English Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1. Also, there are different competitions, such as the Champions League, Europa League, FIFA World Cup, and Conference League.
After finding a preferred candidate across different leagues or competitions, users can buy their NFT using ETH.
How do you play Sorare?
- Collect
Users start by collecting their unique Sorare card. After you purchase a particular card, it moves into Sorare’s gallery.
Users can trade, buy or sell their cards through the gallery anytime. Moreover, there is an open auction on the platform where users can sell or buy player cards from other users.
The price for each card varies depending on the performance or status of a player. For example, a Kylian Mbappe card will cost more than a Diego Costa card. In addition, each card acts as a collectible in its own right. Therefore, the value is influenced by other factors, such as the card’s rarity or serial number.
2. Play
The next step is immersing into the full playing experience on the platform. The platform offers a free-to-play football fantasy game where users compose a team made up of five players. The selected team takes on other team managers on the platform. A five-a-side team consists of a goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, attacker, and an extra outfield player. Moreover, users can only use one card during the tournament.
In addition, users can pick to be part of competitions after meeting the set entry requirements. The player’s performance for each game is rated on a scale of 1-100. Players’ contributions, such as goals, assists, or all-around games, earn points. New users are eligible to receive free cards as they build up their team from academy tournaments while learning the game.
3. Win
The tournaments take place twice weekly: midweek and weekend fixtures. Therefore, users get a chance to win twice each week. Users battle it out with other players in the tournament for daily prizes and rewards.
What are the key features of Sorare?
A number of innovative features come with Sorare, allowing users to do the following:
Collect and trade digital soccer cards
Users at Sorare become part of the global football fantasy community by collecting and trading digital soccer cards. At first, new users can look for undervalued players in auctions. Then they can play the player in different competitions to ramp up the value. Later on, users can sell their NFT cards to other players.
Build and manage your virtual soccer team
Managers have to build a five-a-side team consisting of players with different attributes. Therefore, managers should build a team who are frequently active in their respective teams. Selecting inactive or injured players means losing out on important points during a game week.
Each team is made up of a goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, attacker, and an extra player. Select the preferred players to fill these positions in the squad. The extra slot is instrumental in covering for a position on the squad.
In addition, the manager must select a team captain that earns a 20% bonus throughout a game week.
Participate in tournaments and competitions
Sorare welcomes team managers into different tournaments with opportunities to win various prizes. Moreover, these tournaments are free to enter.
The platform has numerous competitions to choose from, with each one coming with different cap requirements. Therefore, your team’s general power cannot exceed the stated power cap.
Team managers are eligible to receive gifts after attaining the top 30% of the tournaments while possessing a tier 3 player. The manager that achieves the highest position in the tournament receives cash rewards.
Earn in-game rewards and prizes
Users can participate in weekly tournaments to earn in-game rewards and prizes from their squad.
Taking part in tournaments raises the value of your squad players while gathering other cards along the way. Each tournament comes with a power cap requirement to protect the integrity. Sorare rewards top managers on the platform with limited NFT cards.
A look at Sorare manager mode
Joining Sorare means selecting and managing a team through a season or tournament. Here is what you need to know about manager mode:
Become a virtual football manager
The first task in the manager’s portfolio is selecting a team of eight players within a budget, adding up to 100 points. Moreover, the virtual football manager must select two players for each position: goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, and attacker.
Make tactical decisions and transfers
The next task for a virtual football manager is making tactical decisions and transfers through a season or tournament. Many factors can affect the tactical layout of a game, including injuries, schedule congestion, player performance, and fixtures.
Compete against other managers
A virtual football manager competes for the most points through a tournament or a football season. Players’ real-life performances determine the official Sorare scores. The system tracks through 48 different stats, making it one of the most advanced scoring systems in fantasy sports.
The role of blockchain technology in Sorare
Blockchain technology works together with fantasy football to create a platform that allows users to build customized teams of virtual soccer stars. Blockchain technology helps in providing play-to-earn mechanics with unique athlete cards.
Decentralized and transparent trading
Sorare offers collectible card games that are similar to real-life trading cards. Initially, the traditional version involves acquiring and utilizing in-game goods but not owning them. However, it differs from the Sorare marketplace, where owners own NFT cards after purchasing.
Player scarcity and rarity
The concept behind Sorare is collecting cards that have both rarity and scarcity in the game. Therefore, some cards fetch more value than others. As a result, there will be fewer of these cards available to collect for others.
Sorare is a platform built on the Ethereum blockchain; a certain number of cards exist in the game to create a ‘scarce’ supply.
Licensed football clubs and players
On Jan 30, 2023, the Premier League announced it had signed a four-year deal with the Sorare that sees the platform earn a license on official player cards. Sorare users can purchase and use the official Premier League-licensed NFTs with exclusive multi-year agreements.
A global football community
Sorare remains on a mission to bring football fans and enthusiasts worldwide to be part of a global football community. Moreover, Sorare is frequently working on integrating clubs and new leagues. The global structure by Sorare features three categories: an all-star league, an under-23 league, and a casual league.
Is playing Sorare gambling?
At its core, Sorare is a play-to-earn game. There is an element of exchange to the platform where players can only take part in fantasy football games through the purchase of fixed-price player cards.
Sorare does not feature a ‘randomized mechanism’ for its player card purchase, unlike other gambling platforms. This is because players purchase collectible items not defined as loot engagements.
Moreover, the select fantasy football games do not feature random odds with an allocated prize pool. Thus, it is not considered gambling.
Blockchain and football: a partnership for the future
Sorare is revolutionizing the nature of traditional fantasy football by creating a highly engaging and rewarding platform for football enthusiasts. The unique blend of fantasy football and blockchain technology has the potential to transform the way users view sports and collectibles. The platform caters to different needs and preferences for users interested in blockchain or simply collecting. The platform will likely have multiple benefits: enthusing sports fans and bringing blockchain technologies to a wider audience.
Frequently asked questions
Can you make real money on Sorare?
How is Sorare making money?
What does Sorare do?
Do you need money to play Sorare?
Is Sorare a crypto?
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Who owns Sorare?
Is Sorare legitimate?
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