With the metaverse forecasted as the future of technology, brands are now very quick to plan their next steps. We have seen different brands such as Samsung, Coca-cola, and MTN step onto this trend and now the sports industry has joined it too. 

The Argentine Soccer Association, AFA, the institution that manages the national soccer league, is now entering the metaverse. The organization has partnered with Upland, a real-life mapping metaverse project, to allow its users to enter the metaverse and experience the benefits of a closer connection with teams and celebrated players.

The partnership between Upland and the AFA will reportedly include digital representations of all the league’s teams, including players, tickets, games, historical moments, and platform-exclusive experiences.

This will also ostensibly allow the league to attract younger, Web3-focused fans, and digital collectors from the soccer world, as well. The four-year deal is the first agreement of the AFA of this kind and aims to bring additional revenue to the Argentine Soccer League through the sale of multiple licensed digital assets.

This metaverse experience won’t be entirely one-way, though, because the site will also permit fans to resale these digital artifacts to other people, creating a secondary market.  The Argentine Soccer Association expects this to improve the relationship that the institution has with its fans, and internationalize the national league after the national Selection won the FIFA World Cup, recently held in Qatar.

Upland also emphasized on its site, “Upland is the only place in the world raising up all of Argentina football above the competition. Every pass. Every kick. Every save. Every crowd-roaring, trophy-raising moment of the entire Argentine Football Association (AFA) is in Upland – including exclusive highlight videos you’ll only find in the Upland metaverse.”

“Players like Messi, Maradona, Kempes, Zanetti, Passarella, and so many more will live forever in Upland. And you have a chance to be a part of their history in a unique football experience you won’t find anywhere else,” the virtual world platform added.

Claudio Tapia, President of the AFA, celebrated this partnership saying, “This agreement allows us to partner with the best creators of technology and new digital products and thus generate a new source of income for all participating clubs. We welcome Upland as a new commercial partner of our Association and of the Argentine Professional Soccer League.”

The metaverse has already been adopted by a number of international soccer leagues and some of their teams. The Spanish Laliga, the national soccer league in Spain, is already immersed in metaverse-related initiatives, having established partnerships with Globant and Dapper Labs to expand its metaverse presence and establish markets for licensed digital products.