Starting out as the young kid who fell in love with football, Italian icon Alessandro del Piero could only have dreamt of the career he would go on to lead. Amassing over 600 appearances for club and country, Alessandro has captured the hearts and minds of football fans all over the world — cementing himself in global football folklore.
Sharing his story in Korea, the country in which he took centre stage at the 2002 World Cup with Italy, del Piero rejoiced on his early experiences as a football fan and how fans inspired him to greatness as a player. Now, as a keen advocate for the Chiliz project, Alessandro pushes for increased fan involvement and sees Chiliz as a ‘game changer’ for sports around the world.
His journey with Chiliz, the sports blockchain, started back in 2018 when Juventus became the first ever sporting organisation to launch Fan Tokens on the Socios.com app. Through the club’s initial presentation poll offering $JUV Fan Token holders the chance to choose the club’s new goal theme tune, a soundtrack which had not been changed in 8 years, Alessandro could see the potential of Fan Tokens and the endless possibilities they could deliver for fans.
Since launch, The JUV Fan Token really has ‘changed the game’ for bianconeri fans across the world. Over 140 Fan Polls have been launched since that inaugural goal celebration song survey, seeing over 400,000 votes cast by Juventus fans on the Socios.com app. Thousands of Fan Token holders have been rewarded with club products, tickets and experiences through the Socios.com app.
These perks will increase exponentially in the future, as Juventus and Socios.com have recently announced an agreement to expand their partnership by adding new benefits and rewards.
Speaking alongside Chiliz CEO Alexandre Dreyfus at the recent Korean Blockchain Week, in a panel moderated by popular Korean sports broadcaster Shin A-young, Alessandro paid homage to the importance of football — ‘a tradition’ — in the country he learnt to play football from an early age, shedding light on how as an upcoming player there was very little interaction between club and the outside world: “The relationship between fans and players is very important. When I was playing we didn’t have that much technology and the best way fans could connect with players was through an autograph.”
It was only until Alessandro joined Juventus when he started to form a relationship with the club he would then go on to become a legend: “When I was growing up, I didn’t have the chance to connect with players. The first time I connected with players was when I joined Juventus.”
Fast forward 20 years and the game has changed completely for fans, with over 2 million people across the world enjoying a more direct, interactive and rewarding relationship with their favorite teams and heroes thanks to Fan Tokens and Socios.com.
80 of the world’s leading sports teams and organisations have followed Juventus’ path to transform fan experiences through Fan Tokens as del Piero went on to say, “It’s crazy how things change. Now fans have the opportunity to choose things about the player such as voting on match jerseys. It’s about creating a long-term relationship between teams and fans, that’s why I am helping support the Chiliz project.”
Own The Ball, Own The Moment
Having scored over 200 goals for Juventus, Alessandro is no stranger to hitting the back of the net, which is surely why he expressed such excitement around a recent activation developed by Socios.com in partnership with Lega Serie A, Italy’s top-tier professional football league — ‘Own The Ball, Own The Moment’.
‘Own The Ball, Own The Moment’ brings fans closer to goal scoring moments like never seen before, giving them the unprecedented chance to win and own a piece of their team’s history. Fan Token holders can redeem match-scored balls attached with NFC chips to prove authenticity and allow fans to relive the goal anytime via smartphone.
This groundbreaking reward marks one of the latest innovations in Chiliz’s efforts to embed blockchain technology into sport, this time round, honing in on the moments which matter most to fans and players.
‘Own The Ball, Own The Moment’ is just the latest example of Chiliz’s constant commitment to explore and develop new solutions for our partners to further strengthen relationships with their fans. The best is yet to come. As Chiliz CEO stressed during the panel, we’re putting all our energy into innovation and building a global web3 ecosystem to place the fans where they belong: at the very heart of the game.
Alessandro and Chiliz CEO Alexandre Dreyfus will take the stage again on September 14th in Singapore at the Token2049 conference, where they will be discussing “SportFi and the Web3 Future of Fandom” alongside Lega Serie A Commercial Director Michele Ciccarese.
