Ballon d’Or NFTs Are L’Equipe’s Ticket to Web3

France Ballon d’Or award presenter L’Equipe is stepping into Web3 by giving its 2022 Ballon d’Or winners Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) alongside their prized trophies. It also has NFTs for football fans to mint.

According to the organization’s website:

“This NFT collection lays the foundation for many projects and a long-term roadmap. Thus, all NFT owners will now be privileged and can enjoy the next Web3 experiences of the Ballon d'Or® before anyone else in the years to come. Whitelist for the next drops, preview of a possible virtualisation of the ceremony in the metaverse and many other exclusivities reserved for the most private circle of the football world.”

The winners announced in the Oct. 17 ceremony include:

• Men's Ballon d'Or : Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
• Women's Ballon d'Or: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
• Kopa Trophy: Gavi (Barcelona)
• Yashin Trophy: Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid)
• Gerd Muller Trophy: Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)
• Socrates Award: Sadio Mane (Bayern Munich)
• Club of the Year: Manchester City

The Tezos Chain NFT collection release will be in three phases:

Phase 1 (Oct. 5-17): 10 winners receive 10 NFTs (Fragments or Pyrite) from an open contest on L’Equipe

Phase 2 (Opening Oct. 23, 4 p.m. UTC): Private sale of 1,772 copies of 2022 Pyrite Fragment collection -- mint price 199 euros

Phase 3 (Opening Oct. 25, 4 p.m. UTC): Open until all 2022 NFT collections are sold -- mint price 249 euros

Reveal (Nov. 3): Reveal the NFTs that people won.

The collection will have many utilities, some common to all NFTs and others reserved based on rarity, including access to the Ballon d’Or ceremony for 20 years.