Lionel Messi is Receiving Part of his Salary in PSG Fan Tokens

No news in the sports world generated more buzz during the last week than Lionel Messi leaving FC Barcelona. The amazing story of a little boy with a health condition signing his contract on a piece of tissue and becoming the world’s best football player is nothing short of a movie, and yet that is exactly Lionel Messi’s career. He helped propel FC Barcelona to the top of the footballing world while becoming himself the face of the team and the sport. When it was announced that PSG had signed him on a 2-year deal, everyone was curious about the terms. 

Besides the normal deal—including a 41$ million salary and image rights, it was reported that Paris Saint-Germain paid Lionel Messi a reported 25-30 million Euro worth of digital PSG Fan Tokens. For comparison, the token was worth 23$ per token on August 1^st, while as of today, it stands at $34.59 (down from $40 per token on the 13^th).  This means that the price had doubled in two weeks. This growth is also in line with PSG’s number of followers on Instagram, which has increased by millions after the news. Similarly, there have been numerous reports of Messi selling out jerseys.

This is a very interesting development, as PSG was one of the first major teams to create cryptocurrency tokens, and it seems that this move has paid off for them (quite literally). There are a few other proper football teams that have created their own tokens, namely: AC Milan, FC Barcelona, Roma, Arsenal, Manchester City, Atletico. These football clubs are joined by a few other sports teams, such as Formula One’s Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo. The concept of players being paid in crypto has also emerged recently, with Real Madrid B’s player David Barral being the most famous example.

PSG’s use of their token, however, seems to have been the biggest hit so far out of all of these. The token’s price coupled with the publicity it has given them is more than enough proof. It will be interesting to see if more teams follow suit and if future stars in the sport start to realize that their influence goes beyond merchandise and tickets and can now move entire digital economies.