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If you're into fantasy sports, you're in luck. The crossroads between this genre and crypto will only bloom further in the years ahead.
But you don't have to wait for the future for a good taste here. Various teams are currently building in this vertical, and one that's caught my eye this week is Football.Fun (FDF).
Why? They just launched an onchain fantasy sports app, initially centered around Europe's best soccer leagues: Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1, and Serie A. And the game's gotten fast traction on Base.
For example, according to this Dune dashboard by tervelix, FDF has accrued +$10M in deposits, facilitated +$32M worth of trades, and netted +$2M in fees in the first two weeks since officially launching. That activity and rapidity is impressive for a non-DeFi project!
Even without extensive player coverage this early on or support for multiple sports just yet, people have been clamoring to play FDF. That's a good sign for the project. So how does it work?
Football.Fun 101
FDF blends fantasy sports with a trading game. Instead of setting weekly lineups, you collect and trade shares of real players that can rise or fall over time.
You start by opening packs of random players, then decide whether to develop them into your Active Squad or cut them for points. Over time, you earn Gold, Tournament Points, and Skill Points, which let you manage and grow your roster further.
Tournaments run twice a week, and every player in your Active Squad with a contract is automatically entered. Performances are tracked live for goals, assists, clean sheets, etc. Winning players earn you Tournament Points, which let you open more packs, and Skill Points, which are used to promote your Development Squad players.
There's a free-to-play (FTP) version, so you can dive in without stakes. On the Pro side, Gold is pegged 1:1 to USDC on Base, letting you buy and sell shares in FDF's native marketplace. Plus, shares don’t expire each season. Own a star today and you’ll still own them years from now, without dilution or forced rebuys.
For instance, right now the players with the highest market caps on FDF are the best players in the world, like Lamine Yamal ($8.9M), Kylian Mbappé ($6.2M), and Harry Kane ($3.3M). Owning shares of these players is an active bet that they'll continue to perform well, both IRL and thus in FDF.
But as Pix recently noted on X, the stars carry heavy premiums, so you can get better results from finding under-the-radar players who rack up top finishes. Rewards depend not just on performance but also on how many people own a player, so a Yamal goal might earn you less than a lesser-known midfielder’s assist.
Onboarding to Pro
If you want to play FDF with real money, you’ll need to load up a Pro account with USDC on Base:
- Go to pro.football.fun and log in.
- Click your Gold balance to pull up your Pro wallet address.
- Send USDC to your designated Pro wallet.
- Wait or refresh the page, and your Gold will appear 1:1 with the USDC you sent.
After this, you can start buying your first player shares on FDF's Transfers page. These shares will pave the way to your first Tournament Points, which you can use to open new Player Packs, which can then earn you more Tournament Points, 'round and 'round.
Looking Ahead
Going forward, the FDF team is looking to eventually roll out support for other major sports leagues, like the NFL and NBA. They also have some revenue sharing and volume discount plans in the works, so it can pay to play here early beyond just trading players.
I've seen some people express skepticism of the licensing setup here, but it looks like FDF has everything covered legally. If the team can keep up their early momentum and keep delivering on their vision, they have a chance to become a mainstay in the Base ecosystem and beyond. Let's see if they can pull it off!
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