Lionel Messi Backs New Web3 Soccer Game

The consensus greatest player of all time is backing Matchday – a Web3 mobile gaming startup. 

Lionel Messi is emerging as a key investor in a $21 Million seed fund for Web3 gaming startup Matchday. His venture capital firm, Play Time, is putting its weight behind the soccer-focused gaming company. What is more, Matchday holds the official license from FIFA, and the FIFPRO players association. 

Thus far, we know that Matchday is going to target causal gamers and try to make it easy to onboard. Furthermore, the startup has a high profile global ambassador in the form of Spanish soccer icon Alexia Putellas. In summary, things are looking very promising for Matchday. 

Matchday’s Chief Gaming Officer Sebastien de Halleux knows a thing or two about building successful games. Previously, he worked as an executive at Electronic Arts (EA), producing classics like the FIFA game series and Madden NFL franchise. 

De Halleux said: “We believe true ownership is important to creating a new set of experiences for gamers. To us, it’s all about accessibility. We’re talking about bringing on board hundreds of millions of fans into our game without them even knowing what Web3 is. Our motto is ‘make complexity disappear.’”

Messi and Web3

Having led his country to a famous World Cup win, Messi is making major moves in the Web3 world. Prior to backing the Matchday startup, he was already minting NFTs with Eternity Chain. Moreover, he’s the brand ambassador for the NFT fantasy soccer giant Sorare. 

Now, Messi is a key investor in what looks to be a game-changing new mobile gaming platform. Apparently, Matchday plans to build a suite of games for the billions of casual gamers out there, with the first game due for release in the second quarter. 

De Halleux added: “Our games will be accessible for all players, and centered around true ownership of digital items that will be a point of pride for all players.”

Big track record

Matchday CEO Derrick Ko boasts an impressive resume of his own. In fact, he founded e-bike and e-scooter firm Spin, which Ford bought for $100 Million in 2018. Currently, he is turning his attentions to Matchday, with the ambition to on-ramp hundreds of millions of casual gamers into Web3. 

Ko said: “Growing up in Singapore, we didn’t have top flight soccer available regularly on the TV when I was young.” 

“My first exposure to soccer was through video games. That ended up turning me into a lifelong fan of the sport and we wanted to recreate that magic.”

Matchday’s first mobile game will be ‘Matchday Squad’, which will see fans competing against each other with player cards. In addition, players will receive a free deck of player cards to start building a squad. Leveraging their NFTs, players will be able to trade cards with each other and also buy more to bolster their squad. 

As always, we will keep you in the know about Matchday’s developments.