Mike Kondoudis, a lawyer at the world’s most important institution who supervises all trademark filings involving the crypto and metaverse, has revealed the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is filing the trademark for the 2026 World Cup. The Federation is apparently getting ready to sell official merchandise in the metaverse and more. FIFA’s current plans are far wider, and would also involve financial facilities in cryptocurrency, although no details have come out at the moment.
The filed application describes how the organization plans to sell the digital versions of the items through virtual stores. Clothing and accessories like headwear, eyewear, and sports gear are among these items. Currently, it is not clear what the organization plans to do with these products.
This time, cryptocurrency and the most popular sport in the world are once again together. According to yet another tweet by Mike Kondoudis, the lawyer applied to register several aspects of World Cup 2026 to digitize them in the metaverse, where financial services will also be given away. Introducing FIFA’s core financial services into the metaverse is a further step towards FIFA’s goal. By including payment management services, virtual stock trading, exchanges, and their respective management, the company may be seeking to expand into the blockchain ecosystem.
As a result of several partnerships with blockchain and cryptocurrency companies, the organization has already made significant progress in preparation for the upcoming 2022 World Cup. Considering that FIFA is planning so far ahead for the next world cup tournament, which will take place four years from now, it is clear that the football organization is highly focused on its Web3 expansion.
Future developments start from a solid base, however, as the upcoming World Cup in Qatar can already claim an exclusive sponsor. With Crypto.com as the lead sponsor of the 2022 World Cup, the cryptocurrency sector will be well represented at the global event.
For the exchange, this will be an important chance to reach an even much wider audience, thus looking for a spread around the world. An exchange shortly thereafter announced its official presence in Dubai, confirming its interest in a region with a strong crypto scene. With Algorand becoming the official blockchain for the forthcoming World Cup in accordance with the recent agreement signed with FIFA, the World Cup will find in Algorand another eminent sponsor.
Moreover, the blockchain company will also sponsor the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which is scheduled to be held in Australia and New Zealand in 2023. FIFA will work with Algorand to develop its digital asset technology (including a blockchain-based wallet) under the terms of the contract.
As we approach the World Cup in Qatar, recent developments suggest that soccer and cryptocurrencies will have more in common than just merchandising, fan tokens, and NFTs. The expansion plan for FIFA 2026 toward a strictly financial sphere suggests a fully confident soccer at the highest level about cryptocurrencies and hints at how the bearish phases we are watching are to be understood as normal market fluctuations, involving DeFi as well as conventional finance.
