Published on: 23/12/2022
AFA, Upland to bring Argentinian football to metaverse
Following the country’s victory in FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Argentine Football Association (AFA) announced their partnership with open web3 platform company UplandMe, Inc. and signed an official license agreement to bring the First Division Argentina to the metaverse.
It will be Argentina’s first football appearance in the metaverse. AFA president Claudio Fabian Tapia said this partnership would allow the organization to use technology and work with the best creators. Tapia expected the project to help generate a new source of income for all participating clubs.
“We are very pleased to present this new commercial strategic agreement with Upland. The Argentine Professional League has long looked forward to opportunities to leverage emerging technologies to enhance the fan experience of our league,” Tapia said.
With Upland, AFA and the League of Professional Football (LPF) will be able to engage Argentine fans in the metaverse, encouraging them to contribute to the digital community, as well as connecting them with their favorite teams and players.
“Together with the AFA, we look forward to providing more opportunities than ever to new and old Argentina fans. empower them with the true meaning of Web3, which is community-focused and entrepreneurial, allowing fans to contribute ideas and creations to showcase their team pride in engaging new ways,” said Dirk Lueth, Upland co-founder and co-CEO.
Upland will be offering fans exclusive ownership of highlight moment videos from LPF matches as a form of NFT. It is set to provide the Argentine top league with a new way to generate income as fans buy, sell and trade licensed digital assets. Some football digital collectibles will include players, teams, clubs and tickets.
AFA and Upland’s partnership has been perceived favorably by fan audiences. These include global gamers, web3 enthusiasts, as well as digital asset collectors.
Being a company that specializes in the web3 platform for metaverse, Upland aims to empower and allow players, creators, developers and brands to create goods and monetize their digital assets. It has been recognized as one of the “Next Big Things in Tech” in 2021 and one of 22 San Francisco Startups to Watch this year.
Upland, UNICEF to host web3 education program
In addition to collaborating with AFA, Upland has also signed a long-term partnership with UNICEF Brazil to develop a new social project and web3 academy.
This project is meant to expand education about web3 platforms, as well as to train and provide young people with employment opportunities.
The program content will be curated by UNICEF’s One Million Opportunities initiative (1MiO) and powered by Upland. Thousands of young Brazilians between 18 and 24 years old will be offered access to web3 education and learn the skills to contribute to the new virtual community-driven environment.
In this educational program, the participants will be able to learn foundation, job-specific, entrepreneurial and transferable skills, and apply them in real life. According to Upland co-founder and co-CEO Idan Zuckerman, many users have realized financial success due to their web3 knowledge in the past four years. Upland is looking forward to supporting Brazilian youths to provide the same opportunities.
“In partnership with UNICEF, we’re excited to create an opportunity for Brazil’s youth to learn how to create the same opportunities for themselves through a multi-touch web3 experience showcasing fun, innovation, entrepreneurialism and community, as well as a real-world academy to support them first hand,” Zuckerman said.
As part of the partnership launch with UNICEF, Upland will host a holiday season NFT sale for more than 3 million of its community members. They can purchase exclusive UNICEF and holiday-themed digital goods for their virtual properties. The profit from this sale will go towards this youth education program.
