Cristiano Ronaldo, one of soccer’s biggest stars, is releasing his first non-fungible token (NFT) collection with Binance. The CR7 NFT collection comes as part of a multi-year partnership between the football star and the leading crypto exchange and blockchain ecosystem.
The debut NFT collection from the versatile footballer will drop on November 18th at 9 a.m. UTC and feature seven exclusive animated statues grouped into four rarity tiers: Super Super Rare (SSR), Super Rare (SR), Rare (R) and Normal (N).
Each of the statues depicts Ronaldo during different moments of his soccer career and life, including times from his childhood in Portugal. Here’s what we know about the auction:
- 45 of the highest value NFTs (5 SSR and 40 SR) will be auctioned on Binance for 24 hours. The bidding price will start at 10,000 $BUSD for SSR and $1,700 BUSD for SR.
- 6,600 NFTs consisting of 600 R and 6,000 N will be auctioned on Binance starting at 77 $BUSD.
The different tiers come with a myriad of perks, including autographed CR7 & Binance merchandise, access to all future CR7 NFT drops, entry to giveaways and contests, and a personal message from Ronaldo himself. Binance is also offering a Cristiano Ronaldo Mystery Box to new users, which may include more Ronaldo NFTs.
Binance Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer He Yi said that the company was “honored” to work with Ronaldo and to show the world the Web infrastructure Binance is building for the sports industry. Ronaldo added that working with Binance allowed him to create a project that rewards his fans and captures “the passion of the game.”
Although the crypto and NFT markets continue to struggle, the NFT drop from Ronaldo comes with the much-anticipated World Cup 2022 in Qatar just around the corner. Portugal will play its first game on November 24th against Ghana. The World Cup could be Ronaldo’s last major international tournament.
It’s a Web3 World Cup in 2022
The World Cup is set to kick off in just a few days, and Cristiano Ronaldo and Binance aren’t the only ones launching Web3 projects for the global event. Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve covered several stories about soccer in Web3. Here are our top stories.
Last week, the Swiss luxury watchmaker Hublot released a 90,000-seat virtual stadium in the metaverse called the “Hublot Loves Football Metaverse Stadium.” The watch-inspired 360-degree stadium will feature digital spaces for football fans to watch matches.
Next, the world governing body of soccer, FIFA, agreed to a multi-year deal with the Upland metaverse to launch a series of Web3 games and apps ahead of the World Cup in Qatar. Upland links its virtual metaverse to real-world geography and has recreated the Lusail stadium and other real-world stadiums for its virtual gamified experience.
Lastly, yesterday on November 14th, 2022, the team behind the blue chip NFT collection Cool Cats announced it was launching a new NFT collection tied to the World Cup. The drop takes place on November 17th and will consist of dynamic NFTs that change depending on performance from players and teams at the event.
We’ll have to wait a few days or weeks to see if the CR7 NFT collection celebrating Ronaldo’s legacy will be successful. But given that the global superstar athlete already has millions of fans and will have another chance to add to his legacy in the upcoming weeks at the World Cup, we think there’s a good chance it will be.