As expected, the 2022 Ballon d’Or was a glamorous affair as football icons from across the world gathered Monday night in Paris for the most prestigious individual football awards.
Winners got Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) along with their gold trophies making it the first of its kind event. This signaled the L’Équipe group launch into Web3, the new age of decentralized internet. The L’Équipe group is behind the award ceremony.
On September 15, “True Pyrite”, 3 unique 3D NFTs designed by Léo Caillard, were auctioned given the winners VIP access to the ceremony today.
The 5 winners that got the NFTs and trophies are listed below:
- Men’s Ballon d’Or (Player of the Year) – Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
- Women’s Ballon d’Or (Player of the Year): Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
- Kopa Trophy (Best Under-21 men’s player): Gavi (Barcelona)
- Yashin Trophy (Best men’s goalkeeper): Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid)
- Gerd Muller Trophy (best striker): Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)
According to the organising body at the launch of the NFT initiative, “Everyone who participated in the September 15 auction will be given priority for the October 23 “Pyrite Fragments” sale. On that day, a 24-hour private sale of 1,772 NFTs will be organised. These will be sold in Tezos for an equivalent of 199 euros each. The next day, October 24, there will be a sale to the general public of these “Fragments of Pyrite” designated by Léo Caillard, and which have not found a buyer, with a sale in Tezos for an equivalent of 249 euros. In any event, 100 NFTs will be reserved at least for sale to the general public.”
“A total of 2,022 “Pyrite Fragments” NFTs will be sold and will give access to several advantages. Finally, on November 8, 2 artistic and unique NFTs by Léo Caillard will be sold, during the traditional auction of photos of the L’Équipe group with the Millon auction house. These 2 NFTs will give access to the 2023 Ballon d’Or ceremony.”
How to buy an NFT from the Ballon d’Or collection
To buy the Ballon d’Or NFT in the different series you have to go to www.nft.ballondor.com where the different purchase modules will be available. In order to have the best chance to purchase one, you should have a Tezos wallet with a sufficient amount of XTZ to make the purchase. If you don’t have a wallet yet, go here to access a dedicated tutorial to set up your Temple or Kukai wallet on desktop or Airgap on mobile.
Tezos is the blockchain network selected by the Ballon d’Or to technically support the NFT issued in this first collection. Technically, the choice fell on Tezos technology, designed to be energy efficient. Its carbon footprint has thus been reduced by 70% since its implementation.
The XTZ is the cryptocurrency of the Tezos network with which you can buy the NFT Ballon d’Or during the different Drops and auctions. If you don’t have XTZ you can buy them directly with a credit card payment using the Moonpay application accessible from the Temple or Kukai wallet.
