Stephanie Douse 
Animoca Brands, a blockchain game developer, announced on Thursday that it has teamed up with media platform OneFootball to launch a football-centric digital asset center.
The two, along with seed capital provider Liberty City Ventures formed a joint venture called OneFootball Labs to launch the marketplace.
According to a press release from Animoca, Yat Siu, the company head, will join the boards of both OneFootball and the joint venture. The news comes after OneFootball completed a $300 million late-stage investment deal in which Animoca was a participant.
Animoca to lead football NFT
Animoca and OneFootball plan to use the latter’s over 100 million monthly users for the upcoming marketplace under the joint venture.
Football organizations, such as clubs, leagues, and federations, will be able to release their own digital assets for fans through the platform.
Animoca is a veteran in the NFT space, having invested in initiatives like The Sandbox, OpenSea, and Dapper Labs. Disney, WWE, Snoop Dogg, and The Walking Dead are among the popular intellectual properties that the company has the digital merchandising rights to.
Sport NFTs Surging
Sports NFTs are one component of the media that has had a lot of success over the past year. Because they are viewed more like digital collectibles than tokens, they attract users beyond the crypto space.
Since its launch last year, Dapper Labs’ NBA Top Shots marketplace has seen sales of roughly $1 billion. Rario, a cricket NFT platform, raised $120 million earlier this month to expand its operations.
NFTs, according to a recent report from auditing firm PwC, are the “future of digital assets in sports.” The firm compares NFTs to digital trading cards, and says this characteristic makes the space more than just a fad.
According to PwC, NFTs have a future in tickets. The firm thinks that digital assets can “fundamentally alter” how supporters interact with their teams.