Football arrives in Web3: Introducing Aera by OneFootball

Introducing Aera by OneFootball, the NFT marketplace for football fans. Aera is a digital collectibles platform featuring the biggest clubs, leagues, federations and players in the football industry. Built to make digital collectibles accessible to all, Aera is the home for football fans wanting to connect and share their passion in the digital space.

Aera is built by the team at OneFootball, together with Animoca Brands and Dapper Labs. Over the last 14 years OneFootball has grown into the biggest football media platform in the world connecting football fans worldwide and delivering news, stats, stories and emotion about the world’s most popular sport. The Aera platform is OneFootball’s entry into the world of web3. Using blockchain technology to create a new kind of fan experience that moves football fans from being engaged spectators to actually owning a part of the game.

Here’s our story and what we’re doing to bring fans closer to the game.

The challenge

The mainstream football fan has not arrived in web3 yet. They are faced with three key challenges:

1. Complexity — the NFT space can be highly complex, leaving users often with the question of not knowing how to start. And creating an account, called a wallet, on the blockchain can be an overwhelming process.
2. Fragmentation — There is not a single platform that combines the different football digital collectible projects. Leaving the football fans not knowing where to start or where to follow their favorite football projects.
3. Value — Fans are facing the question of what these NFT projects represent and what is in it for them. A clear path and an easy to understand value proposition for the NFT collections is key to attract football fans.

Our approach

We at OneFootball aim to tackle the challenges fans currently face by building an easy-to-use, easy-to-understand NFT marketplace where fans around the world can unite to celebrate football. How? By focusing on access, building a single platform, and creating utility for fans.

If you think of football NFTs, we want you to think of Aera

Access

Buying an NFT should be easy and accessible to everyone. In fact making your first purchase in the web3 world should be as easy as buying merchandise from your favourite club’s online store. The current state of the NFT space means doing just that can be quite challenging. Fans should not need to focus on the technology but rather on what matters most, their passion for football. Therefore we have built a user experience, using Dapper Wallet, that simplifies this process, so that fans can use just a credit card and an email address to get started, and also store their NFTs securely.

Single platform

There are many projects out there and following what your favourite football star is up to can demand a lot of attention. With Aera we want to bring the world of digital collectibles and football together in one place, so fans can follow what is happening in a single platform. By working with the leaders in the football industry the Aera platform will connect our global community of fans with clubs, leagues, federations and players — all in one place.

Utility

One of the cornerstones of Aera is to build long-term utility for our NFT‘s. That’s why all of our collections on Aera will be built around the passion for collecting and unlocking rewards. Collecting has always been an important part of the football sport experience. Buying packs of stickers not knowing what you will get and adding them to your sticker book is something we can all relate to. On the Aera platform fans will be able to enjoy this experience in the digital space. For avid collectors, completing your collection on Aera will unlock unique rewards , such as gaining access to rare NFTs, physical merchandise, football matches or even meeting your favourite football stars.

Partnerships

Kicking off this project we have partnered up with some of the most respected players in the NFT space: Animoca Brands and Dapper Labs.

At its core, Aera is created by people who have been building experiences for football fans for over a decade. Being under the umbrella of OneFootball, Aera is drawing from vast experience in the football media space, connecting fans with their favourite football content around the world. Also, OneFootball has unique partnerships with clubs, leagues and players worldwide, getting the football fans even closer to the game they love.

Animoca Brands, a pioneer in the blockchain space, has helped to develop Aera from an early stage. As a leader in the digital entertainment, blockchain and gaming space, Animoca Brands will support Aera to build a sustainable NFT platform.

Our second partner on this project, Dapper Labs, is no stranger in the NFT sports community and has onboarded millions of fans beyond the crypto community. It has brought the sport NFT space to the mainstream and has set the benchmark for the digital collectibles experience in the web3 space.

Built on FLOW

Aera is built on the Flow blockchain, the fastest growing blockchain in the sports NFT industry, focusing on usability and adoption by mainstream users. Building on Flow allows Aera to charge zero transaction fees, so users never have to worry about paying to use the platform. Importantly, it allows us to keep a small carbon footprint for our project. Minting a single NFT on the Flow blockchain uses less energy than doing a search on Google.

Community

In football everything revolves around a strong community. That’s why we are building the football NFT community in web3. Our channels feature activities, challenges and competitions where you can leverage your knowledge around the world of football to unlock benefits and rewards. The Aera community is a safe space where football fans can engage and share their passion for the world of football. Being an active part of our community will get you close to the NFT football community and keep you up to date about what is happening around the Aera project. Our goal is to connect football fans around the world like never before.

Football’s entry to the world of web3 has only just started — and we are excited to be driving innovation in this space. Being a football-first company, OneFootball knows what football fans want — and Aera will be their go-to platform in the world of digital football collectibles. This is only the beginning… “Own the Legends. Fuel the Legacy.”