Zenit St. Petersburg — the top soccer club in Russia’s Premier League — has signed on to the Ethereum blockchain-based fantasy soccer Sorare platform.
As of Oct. 15, Zenit players will be released as collectible and tradeable digital cards within the blockchain-based game, joining 100 other international soccer clubs, among them Juventus, PSG, Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.
Blockchain player cards can be exchanged with other managers, and gamers can play games as soon as they have a minimum of five digital cards. The score of each player card is tied to their real-life performances in soccer league tables.
Sorare CEO Nicolas Julia says the platform aspires to create a global fantasy soccer blockchain game that includes the top 10 leagues in the world.
Since its launch in March 2019, Sorare has grown an average of 52% month-on-month and today counts 40,000 users globally. Interestingly, Russia has grown to become Sorare’s third-largest marker worldwide, witnessing 70% month-on-month user growth. The country also ranks first in average daily time spent on the gaming platform, at one hour and 15 minutes per day.
Zenit’s general director, Alexander Medvedev, has said he hopes the partnership with Sorare will give the club’s brand better coverage and enable it to reach out to younger fans overseas, especially in Asia and America.
Nonfungible — a rankings site for blockchain games and creators of collectible non-fungible tokens — currently has Sorare ranked 4th. It reports a seven-day volume of $181,353 compared with $445,545 for the top-ranked game, Superrare.