The FC Barcelona soccer team, which has a significant fan base in Spain and Europe, has disclosed its ambitions to capitalize on the rise of the metaverse and NFTs in the cryptocurrency market.

Barca Studios, launched in 2011, is being built to support this new path, centralize all audio-visual channels owned by the team, and create a Barca Innovation Hub that will introduce new technologies into the team’s workflow.

FC Barcelona will use the metaverse to support its e-sports (competitive video gaming) teams and its online video offering, broadly defined as a three-dimensional virtual space where people and companies can interact. Barca Studio’s audio-visual team creates and commercializes content for the club and develops its metaverse.

“Barcelona will use NFTs to build its metaverse as part of a strategy to attract new supporters.” football club president Joan Laporta said during his Mobile World Congress keynote at Mobile World 2022. The development of digital channels is increasingly popular with sports clubs across the globe, helping them engage with fans and boost income, but investing in these untested and early-stage technologies is not without risks. 

Joan Laporta, the club’s president, discussed the club’s forthcoming plans, saying, “In recent times, there has been a lot of attention to blockchain products and services such as NFTs and metaverse.” As a result, we should be able to provide digital products to our members and fans that are consistent with the club’s principles and create an exciting, emotive experience. As Laporta explained, the team was focused on expanding to offer new products and services connected with new technologies to remain relevant.”

The club president declared: “Growth opportunities are essential to our strategy. We want to win titles and make our fans happy, but we also need to capitalize on opportunities in the sports industry. 

It is a matter of survival.”