The unique CR7 card went for nearly $300,000 on the Sorare marketplace.
A 1-of-1 Cristiano Ronaldo NFT trading card sold for $290,000 on fantasy soccer platform Sorare over the weekend. And like so many numbers associated with the Portugal and Juventus superstar, it was record-setting.
The Ronaldo sale isn’t just the highest price paid for a soccer trading card — it overtakes an NBA Top Shot LeBron James slam dunk Moment that sold for $208,000 in February as the most expensive card sold in a dedicated sports NFT marketplace.
At the time of the sale, it was also the most expensive sports NFT of any kind ever sold, though that record has since been overtaken by Rob Gronkowski’s own 1-of-1 token, which was part of a special auction.
Sorare and NBA Top Shot have been indirectly dueling with one another as the two continue to hit new sales milestones. The key difference between the two is that while Top Shot offers player highlights, Sorare’s main event is a fantasy game that permits users to build five-a-side teams with their cards and compete for prizes.
Sorare has secured more than 120 team and league licenses as of this writing, and announced $50 million in Series A funding in February with the help of big-name investors like Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, Gary Vaynerchuk, and FC Barcelona star Antoine Griezmann.
The company is currently working to expand the gaming capabilities of their collectibles, recently collaborating with video game publisher Ubisoft to create One Shot League, a special five-a-side fantasy game featuring players from Belgium’s Jupiler Pro League.
Much like Ronaldo over the course of his legendary career, sports NFTs are consistently posting crazy numbers across the board. The recent Gronk sale went final at $1.6 million, and asking prices for rare Moments on NBA Top Shot routinely hit six figures.
Despite the rapid appreciation of these digital assets, however, Sorare user “FC Camembert” says his big CR7 purchase was not driven by a quest for profits.
“My parents don’t get it and think I am a bit crazy,” he said. “This purchase was not motivated by speculation; I do not plan to sell anytime soon. For me, Cristiano is priceless.”
