What is Sora? SPFL in collaboration with NFT, why no Rangers, Gerard Pique involvement

The Scottish topper, minus Rangers, will be the latest league to join the Sorare ‘community’.

Sorare is essentially a fantasy football game that combines card collecting with participating in tournaments. However, there are no physical cards or stickers if you think Panini. It’s all happening digitally via NFTs and the blockchain (more on that later).

Players buy, collect, trade and sell cards while participating in competitions to win cash and prizes.

Only a fixed number of each player is available each season, either 1000 (limited), 100 (rare), 10 (super rare), or 1 (unique).

Hold on, explain NFTs and the blockchain?

In its simplest terms, the blockchain is a record of transactions made through cryptocurrency. To buy player cards on Sorare, users do so through Ethereum, a technology used for digital money and global payments. It is considered the second largest of its kind behind Bitcoin.

As for NFTs, it stands for Non-fungible token. They are seen as unique and cannot be traded in the same way. Each player card in Sorare has its own individual number. You essentially own the digital copy of the card — some might say digital assets — but there’s nothing physical to hold onto.

Aren’t NFTs controversial?

Depends on your vision. Organizations, football clubs and players have all been criticized for their involvement in NFTs. Not only are they bad for the environment, they rely on cryptocurrencies that create large amounts of carbon emissions, clubs, organizations and players are seen as using their influence to encourage supporters to buy NFTs that inflate their position i.e. the rich help you get richer. John Terry launched his collection at the beginning of February. A little over a month later the value had fallen by 90 percent†

To bring it back to Scottish football. What does it mean for the SPFL?

Income most likely, while Scottish football fans who play Sorare can now buy, collect, trade and sell Scottish Premiership stars from 11 of the best clubs in the country.

Sorare answered this question:

“The SPFL Sorare Collection will feature players from 11 cinch Premiership Clubs. Rangers has informed the SPFL that it has pre-existing conflicting commercial obligations and therefore it is not obligated to participate. It is Sorare’s goal to get Rangers up and running as soon as possible to get on board.”

Users can participate in weekly tournaments by building a team of five players, including a goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and attacker. That team scores points on how well those players perform in real life. Points are awarded for a series of in-game engagements, collected by OptaSports, similar to old-fashioned fantasy football.

Who are all involved in Sorare?

The 11 Premiership clubs are among the 245 officially licensed clubs. Everyone from Liverpool to Barcelona, ​​River Plate to Yokohama F. Marinos. Interestingly, Sorare, which is registered in France, counts Antoine Griezmann as an investor and Gerard Pique as a strategic advisor.

Get unlimited access to all The Scotsman’s sports coverage for a year without needing a full subscription. Expert analysis of the biggest games, exclusive interviews, live blogs, transfer news and 70 percent less advertising on Scotsman.com – all for less than £1 a week. Subscribe to us today