Fan Tokens of Peruvian, Spanish and Brazilian National Soccer Teams Rally as FIFA World Cup Nears

The 2022 FIFA World Cup, which will be one of the world's biggest sporting spectacles this year, is less than a month away.

The event, reputed to be a net positive for the global economy, seems to have brought excitement to the so-called soccer fan tokens – cryptocurrencies that allow holders to access a variety of fan-related perks offered by soccer teams.

In the past seven days, fan tokens of the Peruvian national football team (FPFT), Spain's national team (SNFT) and Brazil's national team (BFT) have rallied 29%, 17% and 12%, respectively, according to data source CoinGecko. Fan tokens of Turkish and Argentinian teams have risen by 10% and 9%.

While each of these coins has a market value of less than $30 million, their recent performance stands out, given that industry leaders, bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), remain flat, and makes them the best-performing coins of the $354 million fan token market.

The soccer fan tokens, which are issued on blockchain-based fan rewards platforms Socios and Bitci, don't represent ownership of the national teams. The coins, however, allow holders to contribute to merchandising, participate in exclusive meet-and-greet events and earn loyalty rewards.

For instance, holders of the Peruvian Token can interact with the team's players on the Bitci FanToken Platform, receive fan rewards and digital collectibles, access locker rooms and watch the match from VIP areas.

So, the soccer fan token market is likely to become more active than ever in the coming weeks. Perhaps it will evolve as a digital proxy of sports betting, with coins associated with 'fan favorite" teams appreciating more than others.

According to the Sporting News, Brazil and France are the two favorites among bookmakers, followed by Argentina and Spain. As noted above, the fan tokens of Brazil, Argentina and Spain have recently outperformed major coins.

The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will be played from Nov. 20 to Dec. 18, with 32 national teams competing across 64 matches to determine a winner.