The name Sorare sounds slightly weird when you first read it. However, when you start looking into the platform you understand what it means. It is referring to the so damn rare soccer cards that you can purchase on the Sorare platform through auctions or the transfer market. Every card belongs to a certain soccer player and comes additionally with experience points.
There are three categories of rare cards available on Sorare:
- Unique Cards (1 card per player and season)
- Super Rare Cards (10 cards per player and season)
- Rare Cards (100 cards per player and season)
Sorare is one of several NFT platforms on Ethereum that has gained popularity lately with the emergence of NFTs. In case you are not aware what non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are and why they are valuable make sure to check out our introductory post on NFTs:
https://frontierprotocols.com/non-fungible-tokens-eventually-unfolding/
Art is one of the main use cases for NFTs. However, NFTs are also becoming symbols of digital communities such as it can be observed in the price of Socks. Socks are digital and physical pairs of socks that were issued by Uniswap. They became a symbol of the Uniswap community and have gained tremendous popularity witnessed through the price increases.
Sorare is creating a product that should be appealing to millions of soccer fans in times when it has become incredibly difficult to visit soccer games in the stadions due to the restrictions that were imposed in the course of the pandemic. Sorare is aiming to create a unique experience for fans to interact with their favourite players and teams. The platform currently supports more than 100 soccer teams and is constantly in the process of onboarding new players and teams to the marketplace.
How to select and buy cards on Sorare?
If you wish to purchase Sorare cards you have currently three alternatives:
- New Signings: new rare cards get constantly auctioned in the new signings section. You can bid a price for any of the cards and if you end up bidding the highest price you’ll win the card eventually when the auction expires. Before auctioning for a card you should search for the respective players and check how many cards are already available for sale and what their respective price is.
- Making an Offer: if there is one particular card that is currently held by another player you can make this person an offer to acquire it for a price that you are willing to pay.
- Buying Cards from the Transfer Market: players have the option to sell the cards they previously acquired on the transfer market. This is probably the easiest way for you to purchase new cards. There are several filter options that help you find desirable cards for your acquisition. As you start filtering the transfer market you will realize that average prices for players of certain Leagues such as the Premier League or the La Liga Santander are significantly higher than for other Leagues.
When acquiring new cards make sure you give preference to players who are actively playing in their teams since their cards will be more valuable. Payment on Sorare is possible with Ether or credit cards for selected markets.
Putting your Sorare cards to work
Besides their value due to the rarity Sorare cards can be used for gaming. Once you sign up as a new user you will automatically obtain a set of common cards. Those common cards are not rare but can be used to start participating in the starter league. The starter League Rookie is accessible to all Sorare users and the only one that can be played with common cards. Through participating in the Sorare Leagues you are able to win prizes.
In order to participate in the other Leagues you will need to acquire a certain number of rare cards. If you would like to play the Global All Star or Under 23 League you can use no more than one common card. The other cards used to play must be rare cards. Keep in mind that you need to assemble a team of players for the different positions available (goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, forward).
The Sorare cards are perfectly interoperable with other games that are supporting them. This interoperability is enabled through the nature of Ethereum’s public blockchain.
Background Information
Sorare has recently completed a venture capital round with participation of Benchmark and Accel Capital along with a number of famous soccer players. It aims to use the venture capital to expand the platform and grow the user base.
According to information from cryptoslam.io there are currently more than 7,000 unique addresses that hold Sorare cards. Currently the most popular Crypto Collectible Product is NBA Top Shots which counts more than 100,000 unique owners of its NFTs.
If Sorare were to grow its user base from currently 7,000 unique owners to more than 100,000 unique owners it could mean that the price of the average card would increase by more than 1000%.