Argentine Football Association (AFA) Has Partnered with STEPN to Issue Genesis NFT Sneakers

Argentine Football Association (AFA) has partnered with Solana-based move-to-earn project STEPN to issue a series of digital assets that would honor the fans and the performance of the Argentine Football Team, one of the most decorated teams in football history.

The partnership, which would span two years, included issuing a series of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of Genesis sneakers that would be distributed among the fans through raffles. STEPN, which has over 5.7 million registered users around the world, stated that this would be just the start of this partnership and that many other activities would follow.

Highlighting the relevance of this deal to expand the digital footprint of the country’s team, Leandro Petersen, AFA’s Commercial and Marketing Director, said:

“The partnership with STEPN is a natural fit, given both parties’ commitment to innovation and fan engagement. We are excited to see what we can achieve together in the years to come.”

These sneakers would also be linked to real-life rewards, including signed jerseys and match tickets, offering engagement paths previously locked for the two parties.

This is not the first digital involvement of the Argentine Football Association. In 2021, the team partnered with fan engagement platform Socios.com to issue its fan token, allowing holders to have a say in several team decisions, following a trend established by other leagues and national teams at the time.

After that, in 2022, the team partnered with crypto exchange Binance, making it the official sponsor of the team in a 5 year deal that would include the issuance of another fan token. Nonetheless, an Argentine judge considered that this partnership could not be made, given that the previous arrangement with Socios.com was already in effect, ordering the parties to desist.