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Jude Bellingham scored twice in extra time to drag England past Norway 2-1 in the FIFA World Cup quarterfinal on July 11, sending his team to the semifinals. Within minutes of the Real Madrid midfielder’s brace, unofficial meme tokens loosely tied to his name and England’s run saw wild price swings across decentralized exchanges.
England, one of the most popular football teams on the planet, has zero official fan tokens. No Chiliz listing. No Socios partnership. Nothing regulated. And that vacuum is being filled by exactly the kind of speculative garbage that gives crypto a bad name.
The match that moved markets nobody asked for
Unlike Argentina, Brazil, and several other football powerhouses that have launched official fan tokens through platforms like Socios, England’s Football Association has stayed on the sidelines of the digital asset game. That decision has left a gap that unregulated token issuers are more than happy to exploit.
Norway’s national team is in the same boat, with no fan tokens, blockchain partnerships, or crypto sponsorship deals to speak of.
FIFA’s crypto strategy versus the national team void
FIFA itself has leaned into digital assets, partnering with Kraken as an official crypto partner for the World Cup. That relationship ties the broader tournament to the crypto ecosystem in a formal, regulated capacity.
Real Madrid, Bellingham’s club team, has dabbled in NFT experiments and unofficial token tie-ins over the years. None of those efforts have generated meaningful market value or lasting engagement.
The fan token sector itself has had a rough couple of years. After peaking during the hype cycles of 2021 and 2022, most tokens on Chiliz and similar platforms have seen their valuations decline significantly. The model, which essentially lets fans vote on minor club decisions in exchange for buying tokens, has struggled to prove its long-term utility beyond speculation.
What this means for investors
The current landscape around national team tokens is essentially the Wild West. Without regulatory frameworks or official offerings from federations like the English FA, the market defaults to speculative instruments that can lose 80% or more of their value in hours.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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