Sorare: Soccer Meets Crypto With This Star-Studded Game

Sports NFT collections have been one of the hottest NFT use cases in the market. Amid this, Sorare is shaking up the fantasy sports world by bringing together NFTs, soccer, and fantasy sports. To be sure, fantasy sports is already a flourishing sector that allows fans to become an active part of the game. Well, Sorare took fantasy soccer to new heights and made the perfect game for lovers of both fantasy soccer and NFTs.

Thus it comes as no surprise that the platform has generated over $184 million in auction volume so far, as per SorareData. What’s more, it has officially licensed with 230 football clubs. This includes FC Barcelona, Real Madrid CF, Liverpool FC, Paris Saint-Germain FC, and many more. 

What is Sorare?

Sorare was founded in 2018 by Nicolas Julia and Adrien Montfort. In a nutshell, Sorare is a fantasy soccer game that allows players to purchase, sell, trade, and manage a virtual team through NFT player cards. First things first—how does traditional fantasy soccer work? Basically, you select your favourite players to create weekly lineups. Then, you get game points based on the chosen players’ real-life performance during game week. 

In Sorare, the game works a bit differently. Unlike the traditional fantasy football game where you select player names from a list, you have to first buy the NFTs corresponding to the player you want in your team. Besides, you completely own the player cards which are based on the Ethereum blockchain. In other words, you can sell them in secondary markets as with any other NFT collectibles. As a matter of fact, the project’s tagline reads, “Own Your Game”. 

Using the digital cards on the platform, you can create a five-player team. Then, you can manage your team and participate in virtual tournaments. More importantly, you can earn weekly rewards in the form of ETH and rare cards.

How to play sorare

To start playing Sorare, you first have to sign up on the project’s website. You can sign up for a number of leagues, starting from the rookie league to a host of special leagues. Some of the special leagues include Under 23 league, which features players under the age of 23 and Asian leagues for K-League and J-League players. In the European league, only Serie A, La Liga, Premier League, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1 players can participate.

When you first sign up, you have to choose a league, select the name and logo of your club, and pick three of your favourite clubs. Initially, you can play the game for free as you will get up to 10 free “Common” player cards. Sorare will randomly assign these cards from the clubs you selected. You can use the free cards only in the Rookie league and you cannot sell them outside the game. 

If you are a veteran gamer or want to earn more from the game, you’ll have to buy your own cards. These cards come in different rarities. To illustrate, during each season, each player gets the following rarities of cards:

• Limited – 1,000 cards
• Rare – 100 cards
• Super rare – 10 cards
• Unique – 1 card

Needless to say, the rarer the card, the higher its value. The most notable players will cost about 0.2 ETH. Some of the rarest player cards have even been auctioned for as high as 265 ETH. Once you have the right set of cards, it’s time to get ready for the leagues!

Participating in Sorare tournaments

Every week, Sorare hosts a range of tournaments that are completely free to enter. You’ll start the game as a “Manager” and will be promoted to “New Manager” after either playing for four weeks or entering four leagues. 

If your players meet the requirements of the leagues, you can register your team for the same. Remember, your team needs 5 players—1 goalkeeper, 1 defender, 1 midfielder, 1 forward, and 1 additional player of any role. Besides, you also have to select a captain. 

Based on the real-world performance of each player, your Sorare team will earn points. These points depend on a number of factors including the minutes played, the number of goals scored, clean sheets, and the number of assists. Yellow and red cards the players receive are also an important factor. To sum up, the better the performance of the players in real-life matches, the better your lineup score.

Furthermore, another criterion that decides a card’s score is its XP. Over the course of time, the cards can accumulate XP based on various aspects. One such parameter is the age of the card. Cards from the current season will receive more XP. Similarly, factors like the number of times the cards are used and the minutes played also decide the XP it gets. 

Here’s the most exciting bit—each tournament offer different rewards, mostly in the form of ETH. For instance, in the All Stars global championship, the top three players receive ETH as well as a rare, highly valuable player. Needless to say, veterans are more likely to win these. But, if you are a beginner, you can still win rewards by scoring certain points. For example, while you’ll earn 0.01 ETH for crossing 205 points, you’ll receive 0.02 ETH if you score 250 points.

How to sell/trade on the platform

Sorare offers multiple ways to buy player cards. Firstly, you can bid on new cards in the “New Signings” tab. These are cards newly minted by Sorare and put on auction. Obviously, the highest bidder takes home the player. 

On the other hand, the “Transfer Market” section works much like a secondary market. Here, you can resell your cards for a fixed price and buy cards directly from other users. Although secondary sales are a good option to buy cards at reasonable costs, you won’t get any sign-up bonus with these. 

To sell the cards, simply click the “Sell my card” button on the card. It is important to note that Sorare doesn’t allow you to auction your cards—you can only sell them at a fixed price. 

Lastly, you can buy players by directly making a bid. Basically, choose any player you like and click on the “Make an offer” button. If your offer is accepted, the player is yours!

Here are some tips to play Sorare

It goes without saying—your score and rewards depend entirely on your lineup. Therefore, you must pay utmost attention when creating your team and choose each player carefully. Here’s the golden role—always pick players that are active and play regularly. This is because you won’t score any points if your chosen player is not playing any real-life soccer matches during the tournament week. 

Besides, ensure that your team members have a good average rating. While you’ll need a large capital to buy top players, a proper team with reasonably good players can help you earn good scores. So, before you bid for or buy a card, make sure to check its XP level. Alternatively, if you have a particularly good player that you want to build up, you can send them to Special Training League. Participating in this league will help the player gain XP. 

Next, choose the captain extremely carefully. Captains receive an additional 20% of the weekly XP. Moreover, captains are often the deciding factor when there is only a marginal score difference between the first and second prize winners. Therefore, choose your captain wisely—it must be someone whom you think can score well. 

The future of the blockchain fantasy game

All things considered, Sorare’s attention to detail, in terms of tournaments and rewards, and a roster of players from all major clubs make it an attractive and exciting game. Actually, it’s backed by venture capital firm Atomico, D1 Capital, Eurazeo, IVP, and more. Moreover, its board of advisors include football player Gerard Piqué, tennis star Serena Williams, SoftBank CEO Marcelo Claure, and others. As a matter of fact, the company raised a whopping $688 million last year, creating history as the biggest series B round for a French tech startup. 

The best part about the Sorare NFT game is its global nature. Already, it boasts players from all over Europe, America, and Asia. With its strong backing and heavy investments, the game is only going to expand its player base in the coming months and years. What’s more, it has launched a separate NFT collection called Legends and has plans to venture into other sports NFTs. While there have been some hiccups along the way, Sorare sure seems to be on an upward trajectory!