Sorare is a football-based NFT platform built on the Ethereum blockchain. Sorare users, called ‘managers’, buy, sell and trade player cards represented as NFTs using the ERC-721 token standard.

What is Sorare

Sorare is a blockchain platform that combines elements of fantasy sports and digital asset collection in the form of NFTs (non-replaceable tokens). The project was founded in 2018 in France, and its creators are Nicolas Julia and Adrien Monfort.

The essence of the project is built around collecting digital cards of athletes represented in the NFT format and using them to participate in fantasy leagues. The cards are linked to real athletes and their value depends on the results in real matches.

Briefly, the Sorare NFT process can be described as follows:

  • creating a profile on the game’s website;
  • obtaining five base cards;
  • buying new assets through the auction or platform marketplace;
  • forming a team from the cards, there are five players in the team: one goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders and strikers;
  • participating in leagues, all tournaments are divided by difficulty level.

Players are rewarded for participating in tournaments in the form of new NFT cards, Ethereum cryptocurrency or other prizes.

The Sorare Soccer project became popular quite quickly and now continues to actively develop. This was possible due to the popularisation of NFT and Web3, as well as the close attention of football federations and teams. The game has official licences and partners, which allows you to add cards not of random characters, but real players, taking into account their club affiliation.

The Sorare game is internationally recognised, so the audience of the project is vast. The game’s website has registered users from all over the world, who are united not only by their interest in football, but also in cryptocurrency. The combination of real licences, rare cards, NFT, and the profitability of the crypto industry, has created a digital space for sports fans.

Initially, Sorare only featured football, but gradually the project is evolving and looking to expand into new markets. Handball and ice hockey, two more popular team sports, are on the horizon.

Where Sorare started

Sorare game was founded in Paris in September 2018 by French developers Nicolas Julia and Adrienne Monfort. The former holds the role of CEO, while Montfort has the position of CTO. Previously, both worked at Stratumn, which developed enterprise-level blockchain solutions.

Already in May 2019, they raised half a million dollars in a seed round of funding led by Seedcamp, Kima Ventures and ConsenSys Ventures. A year later, another funding round was held by e.ventures. It managed to raise $10 million. In February 2021, Sorare raised $50 million in Series A funding led by Benchmark with additional funding from Headline, Accel.

The Sorare soccer project has gone for realism and has therefore licensed over 130 clubs from 31 leagues around the world. The licensed tournaments include MLS, EPL, Bundesliga, Champions League and others. From the list of teams, users can select PSG, Real Madrid, Manchester City and other famous football clubs. In addition to teams, users select player cards. You can take Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Erling Haaland, Florian Wirtz and other world stars to your team.

Sorare Fantasy held its first tournament in May 2021 in conjunction with gaming giant Ubisoft. The tournament was called One Shot League, with managers creating teams using players from the Jupiler Pro League. Other tournaments were later introduced in Sorare.

What is fantasy sports

Fantasy sports is a virtual game based on real competitions in different sports. It is usually organised on the basis of a specific real tournament, be it the German, Italian, English or Champions League.

In fantasy sports, players fulfil the role of team managers. In order to win, they have to put together the strongest lineup that their playing budget will allow.

The basic principles of fantasy sports:

  • Team lineup selection. Each participant chooses a team of real-life athletes based on the rules and restrictions set.
  • Evaluating Athletes’ Actions. For each effective action of an athlete in a real match he is awarded a certain number of points. For example, for goals, assists, penalty kicks and others.
  • Scoring. The points scored by all athletes of the team selected by the participant are totalled. The higher the total score, the better the position of the participant in the overall standings.
  • Competition. Participants compete either directly against each other or within the overall ranking. The winner is the one whose team collects the most points within a certain period of time.
  • Team management options. During the season, participants can change the roster of their team, buy and sell players, replacing those who perform poorly with more successful ones.
  • Prizes and awards. Tournament organisers pay cash prizes or other awards depending on the success of each participant.

Depending on the duration of the game, fantasy sports can be divided into seasonal and daily competitions.

Basic game mechanics

To participate in the Sorare game, you need to assemble a team. It must have at least 5 blockchain images. After creating a team, users get access to tournaments, fighting for prizes and achievements. Fantasy managers are ranked based on their players’ performances on the field and bonus points associated with the value of their blockchain images.

Users can participate in weekly tournaments, receiving prizes for achievements. The amount of winnings is affected by the rarity of the cards, as well as the actual performance of the athletes you add to your team.

Sorare offers NFT-based games for football, baseball and basketball. Users have access to a collection of cards featuring real athletes from the strongest leagues in basketball, baseball and football. In total, the portal has over 300 teams across all sports.

After assembling a team, you get a pass to tournaments. Usually they last 3-4 days. For more intrigue and the opportunity for everyone to achieve a good result, the final place in the standings depends not only on victories in virtual meetings, but also on the points scored by your players in real life. This makes the gameplay more interesting and exciting.

Blockchain provides NFT with provable scarcity, provenance, ownership and freedom to dispose of assets. All cards in Sorare belong to you alone. How they are disposed of is up to you. No one can change your team or delete NFTs for you. This is the feature that made the Sorare game more interesting. If in normal games you can buy in-game items, with NFTs you not only get them, but also acquire ownership.

What are NFT cards and their characteristics

NFT technology is part of the blockchain, which allows storing absolutely any type of information in a certain encrypted block. In this way, users can secure ownership of unique digital assets. In the case of the Sorare game, these are athlete cards. The technology allows to work with a huge amount of content by creating unique tokens (encrypted keys).

The game divides player cards into levels based on rarity – common, rare, super rare and unique. As the level increases, so does the value of the cards. These cards can be traded, sold or collected by players. Let’s outline how many cards are available in each season:

  • Common. These are ordinary cards of white colour. They have the lowest value. They are given to all new users when they register in Sorare. Also white cards are given for participation in tournaments.
  • Rare. These are rare cards of red colour. Sorare releases 100 cards every season. They cost considerably more than the regular ones. There are offers for hundreds of euros, if we are talking about top players.
  • Super Rare. These are super rare blue-coloured cards. Every season they produce 10 copies. You can get them for good results in the tournament. The cost of the card can reach a thousand euros.
  • Unique. Unique or legendary cards of brown colour. They are issued in limited editions, which makes them the most rare and valuable in Sorare.

You can assemble a team for a tournament from cards of the same or different levels. Proceed based on personal preference and the strength of the athletes you acquire for your team.

What do Sorare cards do?

Teams on Sorare earn points by participating in and winning leagues. Each card has a player’s score attached to it, based on the athlete’s actual performance over the last five matches. In football, goals, assists, penalties and a number of other statistics are taken into account. At the end of the league, the points scored by the athlete in the real world are multiplied by the bonuses of the cards, which can vary depending on the captain status, experience points and other parameters. This is how the points for each card are calculated and then summed up. This is the team’s score in the league.

Each card in Sorare has its own value. It depends on the demand on the market, as well as the scarcity, which is created by the authors of the project intentionally. Even before the launch of the first league, they indicated that they would create scarcity so that people would be motivated to collect rare items. The blockchain technology supporting these NFTs ensured that they were tradable and non-interchangeable.

There are only four levels of collectible cards in the game – 100 rare, 10 very sharp and 1 unique each. Including common cards, the total number of NFTs in each league is only 1,000.

It is important to note that digital goods have become quite sought after among sports and cryptocurrency fans. After the successful launch of the game, the DappRadar agency conducted a study on the value of Sorare assets. According to the publication, the average price of rare cards is $40, $260 for very rare and $4,400 for unique cards.

The value of collectible cards has been influenced not only by the popularity of fantasy sports, but also by the desire of crypto investors to make money on new assets. They are willing to pay good money for legendary players such as David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as for young athletes who have prospects to reach the top positions in sports in the near future. This allows registered users to profitably sell their crypto assets in Sorare.

What are the tournaments and leagues in Sorare

The Sorare game offers users a weekly competition as well as four leagues to choose from. Let’s find out more about the leagues that can be played in Sorare free.

  • Under 23 League. This is a tournament with the participation of athletes who are under 23 years old in real life. You can make teams from cards with young athletes.
  • Regional Leagues. These are tournaments where users choose a regional restriction. For example, you can compete with players only from Europe, Asia, America and so on. This tournament format allows you to get to know players from a certain part of the world.
  • All-Star League. In this Sorare league, there are almost no restrictions on roster formation. There are several divisions within the tournament, differing in difficulty level.
  • Training League. This tournament, consisting of different divisions, allows you to familiarise yourself with the peculiarities of the gameplay.

Having different leagues allows you to use players with different deficiency levels. This allows you to keep a lot of cards and make different team squards to maximise the benefits.

Weekly tournaments consist of single matches where you can play with any combination of collectible cards. Pay attention to such a parameter as ‘Player Strength’ when forming your line-up. Additional card bonuses may allow you to increase the number of points you score. Participation in the tournament is available until you exhaust the limit of attempts.

How to Deal

The game’s website states that all cards divided into tiers have the same scarcity, which means their value to users remains at the same high level. All Sorare NFTs are based on the Ethereum blockchain, so holders of this cryptocurrency have an advantage in buying tokens.

Ethereum is a ‘smart contract’ cryptocurrency. It is an open-source software platform that developers can use to create digital applications. The Ethereum network is decentralised – no individual or entity controls the platform.

Sorare allows the blockchain to be used for internal NFT exchanges. All cards are issued in packs, and their contents may vary. Each pack contains a total of 5 players. Cards can be purchased through an internal auction. All transactions are carried out through a linked cryptocurrency wallet.

How to withdraw money

Difficulties with withdrawing money on Sorare will not arise. To receive money, you need to authorise in the system and perform the following sequence of actions:

  • selecting the ‘Withdraw funds to…’ setting;
  • entering the Ethereum address;
  • selecting the amount the user wants to withdraw;
  • confirming the information by email about the transaction.

It is worth noting that when requesting a withdrawal of funds, there is a commission to be paid, which Sorare receives.

How and how much you can earn on Sorare

It is possible to earn on the Sorare platform in several ways. They differ in financial investments at the start and the speed of payback. Let’s outline the main ways of earning.

Selling cards

This way of generating income is implemented in the functionality of the platform. Sorare has an internal shop where you can buy and sell cards. The cost of NFT varies depending on the popularity of the player, his current form and success on the pitch. Cards can be purchased at auctions or from other users.

Earning scheme:

  • Buy cards of promising young players or those who are at the peak of their career when they cost less.
  • Keep an eye on news and transfers to anticipate the rise in value of certain cards.
  • Win free cards by participating in tournaments and then sell them.

Participate in tournaments

Sorare regularly hosts various tournaments where participants can compete against each other using their teams. Winners of tournaments are rewarded with new cards, cryptocurrencies (Ethereum) or other prizes.

Earning Scheme:

  • Create a balanced team of strong players.
  • Participate in tournaments and try to take high places so that the rewards are more valuable.

Invest in rare cards

All cards have a limited circulation, but the rarer they are, the higher the value will be. NFTs with a mintage of 1 or 10 within each league will increase in value over time.

Earning Scheme:

  • Buy rare cards of well-known players or young talents who are showing consistent play.
  • Hold these cards until their price increases and sell them for a profit.

Note that luck can determine a lot of things in this case. For example, buying a pack with a unique player or a sudden increase in value in players that had no preconditions. The demand for NFT can change at any moment.

Affiliate Programme

Sorare offers affiliates the opportunity to earn money by inviting new users to the platform. If your affiliate application is approved, you will get access to promotional material. You will earn up to 10% commission for every eligible purchase of a card you refer to Sorare.

Earning Scheme:

  • Distribute your affiliate link through social media, blogs or forums.
  • Create content related to Sorare to attract new audiences.

Game analogues and competitors

Sorare wasn’t the first to open up access to fantasy sports, but the company made a point of integrating with the NFT, which allowed users to earn money on the cards. Sorare crypto game competitors include the following projects:

  • Flow. Instead of cards in this game you need to collect the best NBA video moments. They are sold in packs on special market platforms.
  • Topps MLB. A game based on the WAX blockchain. Instead of video clips here are the photos of real baseball players.
  • Alien Worlds. One of the most popular games in Europe and CIS at the time of the review. The essence of the game is mining virtual cryptocurrency on a secret planet. Extraction of tokens is carried out on a plot of land, which is rented for a percentage of the mined.

Unlike these projects, Sorare uses the Ethereum blockchain so that users can get rare and expensive cards of real athletes. They can be collected or saved up for the sake of selling them later at a more favourable price.

Conclusion

Sorare is a very successful NFT trading platform based on football, baseball and basketball. With gamification elements and rewards in the form of ETH and cards, Sorare keeps investors interested. With more clubs, leagues and features to be added in the future, Sorare has great potential as a platform built on one of the most popular sports in the world.