Fresh deal announced today

Soccer giant FC Barcelona announced today a new partnership with blockchain platform Chiliz. This comes as part of the club’s new digital and commercial strategy aimed at increasing fan engagement around the world.

FC Barcelona teamed up with the sports and entertainment blockchain company to release Bar?a Fan Tokens ($BAR). Fans can use these digital assets to participate in surveys and polls and earn exclusive rewards through Chiliz’ fan voting and rewards mobile app, Socios.com.

Both Socios.com and Chiliz took to Twitter to share the news of the FC Barcelona deal.

FC Barcelona’s first blockchain partnership

The deal with Chiliz and its Socios.com mobile app announced today marks FC Barcelona’s first blockchain partnership.

In a statement, Josep Pont, FC Barcelona board member and head of commercial area, said: “We are proud to welcome Chiliz to the Bar?a family as a new global partner. This agreement will give us the chance to set up innovative marketing and partnership activations with a clear focus on the digital realm to take the Club closer to our fans around the world.”

Ensuring total fan engagement

FC Barcelona aims to maintain a loyal global fan base through engagement with leaderboards and reward points that can be swapped for limited-edition purchases. The club has promised to stock Socios.com with exclusive merchandise and once-in-a-lifetime experiences linked to the popular soccer team.

The $BAR Fan Token also unlocks other features on the app, such as a fan chat, the ability to trade tokens, plus games and community challenges.

Worldwide success for blockchain technology

By creating an online fan culture, clubs such as FC Barcelona are looking to grow their global success. The Spanish soccer club already has more than 300 million fans worldwide.

Its partnership with Chiliz sees Barcelona join a new soccer community. Clubs such as Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, AS Roma, and West Ham United already have cryptocurrency tokens of their own on the Socios.com platform.

Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO and founder of Socios.com and Chiliz, said of the collaboration: “Adding FC Barcelona fans to the Socios.com global community takes us one step closer to our goal of mainstream adoption of blockchain. Every time a fan downloads the app, we are furthering education, and every time a fan buys a Fan Tokens (sic), we are strengthening the use cases of this innovative technology.”