The sports industry has been very quick to embrace NFTs (non-fungible tokens) as a technology. Top leagues and teams across the world’s major sports have issued their own official NFTs, providing a unique way for fans to show their loyalty and collect digital items featuring their favorite players and teams.
We’ll show you the best sports NFT drops on the market today. We tried to provide a diverse selection of sports, athletes and NFT types to show you the scope of what kind of sports NFTs are out there.
The best sports NFT drops
Without further ado, here’s our selection of the best sport NFT drops that you can collect and trade right now:
- NBA Top Shot – Officially licensed NBA highlight NFTs
- Sorare – Fantasy sports game and collectible NFT cards
- Autograph – NFT platform that has partnerships with top athletes
- Cristiano Ronaldo x Binance – A collaboration between the biggest crypto exchange and a legendary football player
- NFL All Day – Officially licensed NFL highlight NFTs
- STEPN – Move-to-earn platform with digital sneaker NFTs
- Sweatcoin – Platform that rewards users for exercise
- Socios – A platform for sports fans that incorporates NFTs
1. NBA Top Shot – Officially licensed NBA highlight NFTs
NBA Top Shot is a platform for digital collectibles that are officially licensed by the world’s top basketball league, the NBA (National Basketball Association). The collectibles on NBA Top Shot are in the form of videos showcasing highlights from NBA games. These highlights are called “moments” and are distributed to users through digital packs, similar to how trading card games work in real life.
After buying packs and opening them, users are free to trade their moments on the market. Some moments are rarer than others, and the most desirable moments can fetch significant prices. The biggest sale that happened so far is a highlight of a LeBron James slam dunk, which sold for a whopping $230,000.
The NBA Top Shot platform has also recently been expanded to feature highlights from the WNBA, which is the womens’ counterpart to the NBA. NBA Top Shot is built on Flow, a blockchain that was designed to provide a scalable and efficient platform for trading digital assets, especially NFTs.
2. Sorare – Fantasy sports game and collectible NFT cards
Sorare is a fantasy sports platform that utilizes digital collectibles in the form of NFTs. Sorare is best known for its football collectibles, but has also been expanding to other sports like baseball and basketball.
On Sorare, players collect and trade digital player cards, which they can assemble into teams. The performance of each team depends on how its players are performing in real-life football matches. Sorare hosts competitions twice a week, with the best teams earning prizes. Prizes can include additional player cards, tickets to football matches, official gear, or even ETH.
In order to build the best team possible or just to collect cards featuring their favorite players, Sorare users can trade cards on an open market. So far, the biggest sale facilitated through Sorare was for a card featuring Norwegian football superstar Erling Haaland, which sold for over $650,000.
Sorare features cards from players in some of the world’s top football leagues, including the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and several others.
3. Autograph – NFT platform that has partnerships with top athletes
Autograph is a sports-focused NFT platform co-founded by legendary American football player Tom Brady. On Autograph, users can collect NFTs from collections created in collaboration with some of the most prominent athletes in the world. Typically, each collection is issued through “mystery containers”, which can be opened to receive an NFT. The NFTs have varying rarity tiers, with rarer ones typically being more desirable and expensive.
Some examples of athletes that have released NFT collections through Autograph include Naomi Osaka, Tiger Woods, Tony Hawk, Simone Biles, Derek Jeter, Rob Gronkowski and several others.
Most NFTs minted through the Autograph platform are issued on Polygon, an Ethereum-compatible blockchain that offers lower fees and faster transactions.
According to recent reports, Autograph is pivoting to a new approach of providing a platform that helps athletes and celebrities build loyalty with their fanbase in a variety of ways, instead of exclusively focusing on NFTs. Still, Autograph remains one of the top platforms for sports NFT drops thanks to the caliber of athletes featured on the platform.
4. Cristiano Ronaldo x Binance – A collaboration between the biggest crypto exchange and a legendary football player
Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, has partnered with legendary football player Cristiano Ronaldo to release two NFT collections. The first collection was launched in November 2022, while the second was launched in July of 2023.
According to Binance’s chief marketing officer Yi He, Cristiano Ronaldo’s first NFT drop was “the most successful athlete NFT collection of all time”. The exchange is hoping to replicate the first drop’s success with the latest collection, which is titled “ForeverCR7: The GOAT”.
The collection includes more than 29,000 NFTs, and commemorates the greatest moments from Cristiano Ronaldo’s career. The NFTs are split into 4 rarity tiers: Normal, Rare, Super Rare and Super Super Rare.
Owners of the NFTs can benefit from various perks, ranging from merchandise signed by the legendary player to a real-life training session with Cristiano Ronaldo himself.
5. NFL All Day – Officially licensed NFL highlight NFTs
NFL All Day is a sports NFT platform that follows a similar blueprint to NBA Top Shot, which we have already featured in this article. In fact, NFL All Day was also created by Dapper Labs, the same company that’s behind NBA Top Shot.
As the name suggests, NFL All Day is focused on the NFL (National Football League), the world’s premier American football league.
On NFL All Day, users collect video highlights showcasing impressive plays from the biggest NFL stars. The NFTs are distributed through packs, which contain multiple “moments” of different rarities. Packs become available through drops, which have a limited number of packs.
NFL All Day is arguably the best sports NFT drop for fans of American football, as it features official licensed NFTs and a marketplace where users can buy and sell their NFL digital collectibles.
6. STEPN – Move-to-earn platform with digital sneaker NFTs
STEPN is a “move-to-earn” platform where users track their movement with an app and earn tokens as they move. The STEPN platforms incorporates two types of tokens: Green Metaverse Token (GMT) and Green Satoshi Token (GST).
The STEPN platform features NFTs that represent virtual sneakers, which provide various perks to users of the app. The sneaker types represent various types of movement, for example walking, jogging or running. Each sneaker has randomized attributes that determine its token earning efficiency, durability and other factors.
Notably, STEPN has partnered with major footwear brand ASICS to release ASICS-branded virtual sneakers.
7. Sweatcoin – Platform that rewards users for exercise
Sweatcoin is a blockchain-based platform that monitors the physical activities of its users and provides rewards in the form of digital currency called “Sweatcoins.”
In the context of Sweatcoin NFTs, these tokens signify ownership of an exclusive item or the ability to access unique experiences within the Sweatcoin app. For instance, an NFT may grant the holder privileges to a premium app version or a distinctive virtual item.
The integration of NFTs into the Sweatcoin platform introduces a new dimension of scarcity and worth to the digital currency. Since certain NFTs have limited availability, their value appreciates over time, attracting interest from collectors and investors.
8. Socios – A platform for sports fans that incorporates NFTs
Socios is a platform that allows fans to connect and show support for their favorite clubs. The platform is mostly focused on football fans, although it’s now also supporting other types of sports, for example Formula 1.
During live matches, teams have the opportunity to generate NFTs for sale through Socios. For example, during a match between AC Milan and AS Roma, a photographer captured a significant moment when Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s teammates gathered around him to celebrate his goal. This photograph was quickly converted into a series of 100 NFTs, each being a unique and limited edition item.
While Socios is primarily known for its “fan tokens”, which are fungible tokens related to various clubs, it has also released NFTs that are only available to fan token holders. Examples of teams that have issued NFTs through the Socios platform include Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan, Juventus, FC Barcelona and others.
The bottom line – Sports NFT drops are a unique way to engage with your favorite players and teams
Sports NFT drops are a new way for fans around the globe to express their enthusiasm and connect with their favorite players and teams. Hopefully, our article showed you the full scope of the types of sports NFTs that are available to fans today.
Usually, sport NFT drops platforms are designed so that any kind of fan can engage with them. If you don’t have the means to acquire the most highly desired collectibles, you can also assemble a nice collection using more affordable NFTs of a lower rarity.
