In collaboration with Crypto.com, Coca-Cola, one of the world’s largest beverage companies, is planning to eternalize the ongoing World Cup events on the blockchain through non-fungible tokens (NFTs). In recent months, the company itself has been dabbling with NFT projects. However, the latest effort could see it leverage Web3 technology for FIFA World Cup, which is dubbed the industry’s first.
Coca-Cola to release World Cup NFTs with Crypto.com
According to the announcement on Monday, Coca-Cola is planning to release a collection of 10,000 unique NFTs inspired by the ongoing FIFA World Cup tournament. Known as the ‘Piece of Magic,’ the beverage company, which has been an official sponsor of FIFA, said the NFTs are part of its commitment to deliver magical moments to football fans during the World Cup events.
More interestingly, Coca-Cola said the World Cup NFTs will be generated using ‘heatmaps’ from the in-game performance of players during the matches. To achieve this, both Coca-Cola and Crypto.com also teamed with popular digital artist GMUNK, whose also behind the sci-fi look of Tron: Legacy and Oblivion.
“The FIFA World Cup™ in Qatar is about bringing magical moments to life on and off the pitch for millions of fans from the region and beyond,” says Coca-Cola’s FIFA World Cup General Manager, Nazli Berberoglu. “This incredible collaboration with GMUNK will see 10,000 stunning and unique ‘Pieces of Magic’ in the form of NFTs available for fans to own forever.”
FIFA had its plans for NFT
The football governing organization, FIFA or the Federation Internationale de Football Association, itself is not far from the initiative of issuing World Cup NFTs to tokenized moments of the matches.
Ahead of the World Cup opening match, FIFA launched an NFT marketplace dubbed “FIFA+ Collect” to enable football supporters around the world to collect some of the best moments of the FIFA World Cup and FIFA Women’s World Cup events. The platform is reportedly powered by Algorand.
Coca-Cola is no stranger to NFTs
The launch date for Coca-Cola’s World Cup NFTs was not disclosed in the announcement. However, the beverage company said it will be accessible to football fans around the world, who are registered on the Crypto.com NFT platform, and Coca-Cola’s Fanzone page. Meanwhile, this isn’t the first time the company is exploring an NFT launch.
In recent months, Coca-Cola made headlines after issuing 136 digital collectibles, featuring brightly designed Coca-Cola bottles, all with the number 136 which signifies the brand’s years of existence.
The company issued its first-ever crypto artworks last year, featuring four unique NFTs launched on the OpenSea marketplace, in recognition of International Friendship Day. The company said it generated about $575,883 in an online auction of the NFTs, which was pledged to support Special Olympics International.
