Major Turkish sports club Fenerbahçe issues fan token on Ethereum

Crypto presents an opportunity to create a significant revenue stream for sports clubs around the world, Fenerbahçe S.K. President Ali Koç said.

Fenerbahçe S.K., one of the three biggest sports clubs in Turkey, issued its own fan token on the Ethereum blockchain through a new partnership with the local crypto exchange Paribu. The initial presale of 500,000 unlocked tokens was completed on Aug. 9, netting the club 15 million lira ($1.75 million) in 30 seconds.

The club announced that the Fenerbahçe Token would have a maximum supply of 190,700,000 tokens in reference to 1907, the year Fenerbahçe was established. According to the project’s white paper, a total of 117 million treasure tokens would be created on smart contracts over the next 25 years on a yearly basis.

Fenerbahçe also included a roadmap for the token burn that would be triggered by the club’s achievements in soccer, basketball or volleyball. According to the white paper, there will be token burns in the event of a victory, championship or achievement in Europe.

Noting the dismal state of soccer amid the coronavirus pandemic, Fenerbahçe president Ali Koç said that the sports industry has to seek new revenue streams. He stated that being active in the crypto assets business is an important item in the club’s agenda.

Koç explained that Fenerbahçe met with 12 companies, both local and international, before issuing a fan token. After evaluating several criteria like the potential of a token listing, user base and technical infrastructure, the club picked Paribu as the technology partner for Fenerbahçe Token.

Speaking about the deal between two parties, Ali Koç said, “It’s not a sponsorship deal. It’s a 25-year-long business partnership.”

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Paribu CEO Yasin Oral said that, due to Fenerbahçe Token being issued as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, it would be possible to list it on global platforms in the future.

Fenerbahçe is a rather late addition to the fan token hype in Turkey. Several sports clubs in the country have already issued fan tokens. More recently, the Turkish Union of Clubs, an association of clubs playing in Turkey’s primary soccer league Süper Lig, has partnered with Socios.com to explore digital revenue models.