La Liga club Valencia has replaced Bwin with Socios.com fan and will be the first team to promote the company on the kit. This will be a one-season deal and the fans will see Valencia’s official fan token ‘$VCF’ display on the shirt.
The Spanish side also joins some of the major football clubs like Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, AC Milan, Juventus, Atlético de Madrid, AS Roma, Galatasaray to work with Socios. The Argentina national team also works with the firm.
The company first began to expand its sponsorship portfolio in the United States of America, building an alliance with teams like the National Hockey League’s New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia 76ers of NBA. Both the teams were owned by Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment. Alexandre Dreyfus, chief executive of blockchain provider Chiliz and Socios.com revealed that partnership with Valencia is the most valuable milestone in the company’s evolution.
“This world-first partnership, our fourth with a major Spanish club and 38th overall, will bring incredible visibility to fan tokens and the Socios.com platform, accelerating our mission to shift passive fans into active contributors and create a brighter future for sport – where clubs and fans alike are able to enjoy the rewards created by unlocking the potential of global fan engagement.”
Socios will replace Bwin with the shirt sponsor. Bwin is a betting operator company and had a three-year deal with the club till 2022 but the club was forced to terminate the contract with them as Spain’s new law does not allow to promote gambling in relation to sports and other events.
Valencia had quite a disappointing season as they finished 13th in La Liga with only 43 points. The Spanishonce used to challenge for the top four spots every year but the new ownership has been a bane for them in the past few years.