What is the FIFA blockchain?
In May 2025, FIFA announced the launch of a dedicated layer-1 blockchain utilizing Avalanche’s Subnet technology.
This transition marks a departure from its previous use of the Algorand blockchain, which had powered FIFA’s initial ventures into Web3, including the FIFA Collect NFT marketplace launched ahead of the 2023 Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia.
The new blockchain is designed to serve as the new infrastructure for FIFA’s blockchain-based products, such as digital collectibles and games, offering enhanced performance, scalability and user experience.
Did you know? FIFA, the global governing body of football, was founded on May 21, 1904, in Paris by seven European nations. Today, it boasts 211 member associations — more than the United Nations — and is headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland.
What’s FIFA’s Web3 strategy?
There are multiple reasons behind FIFA’s pivot from Algorand to building its own blockchain, most of which come down to control, scalability and ecosystem integration.
Control over infrastructure
Under its deal with Algorand, FIFA relied on an external protocol to power its digital collectibles. While Algorand offered energy-efficient, low-cost transactions, the ecosystem remained relatively isolated.
FIFA’s own blockchain gives it full sovereignty over the protocol layer, enabling it to decide how assets are issued, how games integrate and how users interact with its products without being dependent on third-party roadmap decisions.
Scalability for global fan events
FIFA serves a fanbase estimated at over 5 billion people globally, according to the organization’s own figures published after the 2022 World Cup. During that tournament alone, FIFA reported more than 1.5 billion viewers for the final match.
Blockchain infrastructure needs to handle extreme surges in demand during such events. Avalanche’s Subnet architecture allows FIFA to scale independently from the broader Avalanche network, providing customizable throughput and governance suited to event-based spikes in user activity.
Better developer and user compatibility
Unlike Algorand, which is not EVM-compatible, Avalanche Subnets support the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) by default.
This allows FIFA’s blockchain to interact natively with the broader Ethereum ecosystem; developers can port over smart contracts more easily, and users can engage using standard wallets like MetaMask, Trust Wallet and others.
This reduces onboarding friction and opens the door to broader engagement from the Web3 community.
Interoperability with other chains
Avalanche has been positioning its Subnet technology as a modular solution for enterprises and institutions building their own chains that still need cross-chain interoperability. This aligns with FIFA’s stated interest in expanding beyond collectibles into Web3 gaming and fan participation tools that interact with multiple platforms.
Did You Know? Avalanche Subnets, like the one FIFA is building on, are designed for high scalability. While Avalanche’s main C-Chain can handle approximately 4,500 transactions per second (TPS), Subnets can be tailored to achieve even higher throughput based on specific application needs.
More on the FIFA crypto platform — Blockchain in sports
The FIFA blockchain is being built as a dedicated Subnet, a customizable blockchain that operates independently while still benefiting from Avalanche’s consensus model and infrastructure.
Subnets can have their own tokenomics, validator sets and smart contract logic. FIFA’s EVM compatibility means developers can build decentralized applications (DApps) using Solidity, and FIFA can integrate with the broader decentralized finance and NFT ecosystems if it chooses to.
In practical terms, this setup provides FIFA with a blend of scalability, performance and flexibility that general-purpose chains haven’t yet matched for large-scale sports applications.
Users will now need to connect via EVM-compatible wallets, as FIFA is discontinuing support for Algorand-based wallet systems used in earlier phases of FIFA Collect
Blockchain for football fans
Now that FIFA’s dedicated blockchain is live, fans are starting to see the first wave of products and experiences built on it — from upgraded digital collectibles to blockchain-powered games and token-based fan platforms.
FIFA digital collectibles
FIFA Collect, the organization’s official digital collectibles platform, has fully transitioned from Algorand to the new Avalanche-based blockchain as of June 2025. On the upgraded platform, fans can still buy and trade highlights from FIFA tournaments as NFTs,…
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