FIFA Will Mint Soccer NFTs on Polygon—But Isn't Ditching Algorand

FIFA is launching a new set of NFT collectibles across Algorand and Ethereum scaling network Polygon ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup Saudi Arabia 2023, according to an announcement this week.

The global soccer organization stated it will be the first collectibles release under a new collaboration with crypto startup Modex, which will now oversee strategic management of FIFA's digital collectibles platform, FIFA+ Collect. The collectibles platform launched in 2022 with NFTs exclusively minted on the Algorand blockchain.

On Tuesday, FIFA clarified that it will continue to launch NFTs on Algorand via its own platform while also expanding to Polygon via drops through the OpenSea marketplace.

FIFA+ Collect will launch 1,000 total NFTs around the FIFA Club World Cup, with the first 100 minted on Algorand and releasing on December 15. These will include the “rarest collectibles” in the drop that “offer the chance to secure” tickets for the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final, per a release.

The other 900 NFTs will drop on the OpenSea marketplace on December 19. Further FIFA NFT drops will also take place on Polygon at OpenSea.

A Polygon Labs representative originally told Decrypt that the “project has now moved to Polygon,” but a FIFA representative clarified that the platform is “expanding” to Polygon, but “not shifting” away from Algorand.

“In the future, we will make any choice always having in mind the interest of existing and future users, making any technological choices as a way to serve them in the best possible way,” the FIFA rep added. “In this sense we remain vigilant on the progress of the existing chains and community, and today we are very glad that Polygon is partnering with us on this.”

The FIFA Club World Cup began earlier Tuesday in Jeddah. Competitors include teams from top leagues around the world, like English Premier League champions Manchester City.

Editor’s note: This article was written with the assistance of AI. Edited and fact-checked by Andrew Hayward.