Crypto winter casts chill over FIFA’s deal with Algorand and CBF’s Bitci agreement

November 28 – The cryptocurrency winter is biting deep, including into football sponsorship with two of the biggest commercial scalps – FIFA and Brazil’s CBF – being hit with non-payment issues right when a World Cup is in full flow.

FIFA made a big noise earlier in the year about signing Algorand as a “regional supporter” for North America and Europe at the World Cup and an official sponsor of the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next year. That agreement was just a few weeks after crypto exchange Crypto.com signed on as a sponsor of the 2022 World Cup.

Algorand provides the official blockchain-supported wallet for FIFA in what was a sponsorship and technical partnership. Algorand said it will no longer ‘activate’ (read pay for) its sponsorship rights but will focus on the ‘technical development’ aspects of its partnership.

Algorand’s deal included helping FIFA “further develop its digital assets strategy”, making it a supplier rather than a partner.

CBF ends Bitci deal

The Brazilian football confederation (CBF) has confirmed it has ended its deal with Turkish blockchain company Bitci.

A three-year agreement had been signed in June 2021 but the CBF says that payment has been delayed months.

As part of the deal Bitci was to create a series of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for Brazil’s national football teams, as well as becoming the official cryptocurrency of the national team.

NFTs focused on the teams and their players were part of the agreement and covered the current World Cup, the women’s football teams, in addition to the U20, U17, and U15 teams.

A first drop of NFTs was made in September 2021 and Bitci is still trading these NFTs despite demands from the CBF to stop.

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