Last week OneFootball pulled the plug on its AERA NFT marketplace which will close at the end of the month. In May the company boasted 170 million users across its entire platform, but just a tiny proportion embraced NFTs. It launched Serie A soccer NFT video moments to much fanfare a year ago. That was after raising $300 million in funding in April 2022, ostensibly to expand its web3 ambitions. It announced a joint venture with Dapper Labs and Animoca Brands.
However, this news is perhaps more about OneFootball than it is about web3, NFTs and sports. Simple research shows that some sports web3 platforms are still very active, even if the prices are lower than last year. In some cases not as low as one might expect.
OneFootball shuttered its AERA web3 platform a week after the founder of OneFootball stepped down as CEO. According to the German newspaper Handelsblatt he was pressured to step aside as the company allegedly is behind on its sports rights payment to football leagues, including money for video streaming rights. The German Football League is reportedly owed €60 million ($66m).
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