Argentina’s top pro-soccer league is getting a rebrand after it secured a new sponsorship deal with Chiliz, the creators of fan tokens and the Socios.com blockchain rewards app.
According to a July 15 announcement from Socios, the partnership with the Argentina Football Association (AFA) will see the Primera Division renamed as Torneo Socios.com for the 2021/2022 season, with Torneo meaning “tournament” Spanish.
Torneo Socios.com was founded in 1891 and was the first professional league formed outside of the United Kingdom. The partnership is a significant move from both parties, as a crypto company has been chosen as the first commercial name used to rebrand the league.
“We are very happy to kick off this journey with Socios.com. It is a very important agreement, since it’s the first time the Argentinian league partners with a commercial brand to rename the tournament,” said President of the AFA, Claudio Tapia, as part of the announcement.
The firm also highlighted that the announcement follows from a partnership with the AFA to officially launch licensed Argentine national ootball team tokens on June 11.
The Socios app is a direct-to-consumer platform that leverages the Chiliz blockchain to tokenize sports franchises by offering officially licensed fan tokens. Fan token holders then earn various rewards and voting rights through the app.
The platform reportedly shares half of its proceeds from fan token sales with its partnered clubs, and the firm touts that fan tokens have already “generated over $150M in revenue” to be shared with its partners in 2021.
Related: Chiliz takes to the track with Formula 1 fan tokens
The platform has notched an extensive list of partnerships with top sporting giants such as the NBA’s Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers, The Ultimate Fighting Championship and the English Premier League’s Manchester City to name a few.