Liverpool Football Club (LFC) are entering into the world of digital collectable art as they launch their first official NFT collection.
The LFC Heroes Club collection will feature illustrations of 24 of the male squad, bringing their “individual and superhero characteristics to life”.
Sotheby’s auction house has partnered with the football club to help create the project, which will be available to purchase during a three-day online sale from March 30 to April 1.
The digital collection will have two categories – the Legendary and Hero Edition.
The Legendary category will consist of 24 one-off NFTs of the “legendary heroes” from Liverpool FC depicted as superheroes.
They will go under the hammer during the online auction, with bidding starting at $100 (£75).
While the Hero Edition is a limited series that will see the players demonstrating various personality traits and poses.
Fans will have the opportunity to own a unique randomly generated Hero Edition NFT, with the exact image revealed once the sale comes to an end to mirror the anticipation created when opening a pack of football cards. These will be priced at $75 (£56).
The sale will also support the Liverpool FC official charity, the LFC Foundation, with half of the club’s proceeds from the Legendary collection auction going towards its charitable and community projects.
An additional 10% from the club’s limited edition Hero sale and 10% of all future resale royalties will also go to the LFC Foundation.
The charity is also creating its own LFC Foundation Heroes NFTs to celebrate the contributions made by the staff members to the community.
LFC have said that by owning one of their NFTs, supporters can also join its fan community, with access to an LFC community forum, experiences, virtual hang-outs, competitions, LFC retail discounts.
The club added that the three-day sale will be run and be managed on an energy-efficient blockchain called Polygon as part of their sustainability initiative The Red Way.
Liverpool Football Club has also stated its NFTs are digital collectable works of art and should not be considered investments.
Drew Crisp, senior vice president of digital at Liverpool FC, said: “The LFC Heroes Club drop is a first-of-its-kind initiative, which seeks to bring a new, exciting and innovative way for supporters around the world to engage with the club.
“We always strive to adopt new emerging technology for the benefit of fans and club, while also being very conscious of our impact on the environment.
“This is why we have chosen to work with Sotheby’s due to its capability to create NFTs on an energy efficient blockchain.
“We wanted to create a really accessible collection of NFTs that are truly unique to LFC, and simply give fans an opportunity to explore this new and trending topic, and most importantly, give fans the choice to buy one should they wish.”
He added that this is a “great chance” for the club to offer fans “something truly special” while also giving back to their LFC Foundation.
Sebastian Fahey, Sotheby’s managing director for EMEA and executive lead for Sotheby’s Metaverse, added: “To collaborate with Liverpool Football Club, one of the most successful and storied football clubs in the world, for this first-of-its-kind NFT collection marks a turning point in how NFTs can be used to engage fan communities with tailored releases and unique concepts specially designed for their supporters.
“Together we have created a new digital art collection, which celebrates LFC heroes and leverages our web3 technology to enable the club’s passionate and global supporter group to be a part of this exciting initiative for the long-term.”
The LFC Heroes Club NFT collection will go on sale during a three-day auction from March 30 to April 1 at Sotheby’s online metaverse.
