The Ballon d’Or award is set to offer digital tokens along with the trophies to winners, according to a statement by the organisers.
The French award, run by the Equipe media group, has been in existence since 1956. This year, the organisers are delving into cryptocurrency, offering a range of digital tokens (NFTs) to the winners for free. Hundreds more will however be sold to the public.
The NFTs (digital tokens) are pieces of computer code stored on a blockchain, the network that carries information about digital assets.
The organisers said the Ballon d’Or NFTs were part of a longer-term strategy.
“The first collection will be followed by others as the Ballon d’Or, and more broadly the Equipe and Amaury groups, wish to project themselves in a sustainable way into the world of web3, the new age of decentralised internet,” the media group said.
Equipe also said it would auction three NFTs that would afford the holders “VIP access” to the award ceremony on 17 October and hundreds more after the ceremony.
