Lionel Messi’s PSG Package includes Crypto, What Does this Mean for Football Teams and Athletes?

Messi has finally left Barcelona to join the superstar team PSG, but with a big package that includes crypto tokens.

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Long-time Barcelona legend, Lionel Messi, has finally left his club after decades with the team. A big package was needed to stir him from the team he called home since he was 13 years old, and that's what PSG delivered on. Messi’s package includes a two-year deal, with an option for a third, that will net him an annual salary of $41 million-plus bonuses and a reported $30 million signing-on fee.

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Another part of this “welcome package” will include “$PSG Fan Tokens,” a token made for fans of the club. PSG first issued the coin earlier this year, but a new demand for the coin has been triggered prior to Messi joining the squad. The $PSG token, created in Jan. 2020 with crypto platform Socios.com, was designed to help PSG build a new fan community and has so far succeeded in this task. Marc Armstrong, chief partnerships officer of PSG, said in a statement that embracing Socios.com and $PSG Fan Tokens has enabled the club to engage with a new global audience and create a significant digital revenue stream. Trading volumes exceeded $1.2 billion in the days preceding the arrival of Messi, soaring over 130% amid the speculation of Messi’s arrival.

"I believe this could be the start of a new trend as fan tokens and Socios.com play an increasingly prominent role across sport at the very highest level," states Alexandre Dreyfus, the CEO of Socios.com.

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Other clubs have since followed suit, with teams like England’s Manchester City and Arsenal, Spain’s Barcelona, and Italy’s AC Milan and Juventus following suit with the same technology. Since Messi has joined the team, $PSG token has more than doubled in value as of Aug 10th as more and more fans and other supporters buy the coin. It has since lost a lot of its value; however, the potential for such a fan to prosper is astonishing. As more teams begin to create fan tokens, football players could request for a big chunk of their package to be paid with crypto and can make a lot of money from its sale. As good players join these teams, their hype from fans would be vast. This hype would translate into the sale of their fan tokens, and players can make a quick buck by selling their shares once the coin has skyrocketed.

Teams would benefit from fan tokens as well. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, stadiums had to shut down their doors and host games from behind closed doors. These tokens can help teams enhance their digital presence and stay closer to their fans while also introducing them to cryptocurrency. European soccer’s governing body, UEFA, predicted that major clubs would share losses of 8 billion euros ($9.7 billion) due to a lack of gate receipts and broadcasting revenues. Major clubs can team up with blockchain fan token platforms like Chiliz, which hosts fan token offerings via the Socios website. Chiliz offers half of its proceeds from token sales to its partner clubs, anticipating $200 million in sales throughout the rest of the year. The overall value of the fan token market across all platforms is currently worth $260 million, a 900% increase on the figure from this time last year, according to data from FanTokenStats. Even with the volatility that comes with investing in the crypto market, fans are still able to enjoy the token as a way to voice their appreciation for their team and a way to connect more with the franchise. Everyone is able to benefit from