West Ham Sets First With Socios.com
West Ham United has become the first Premier League club to team up with blockchain-based fan engagement platform Socios.com.
West Ham joins the likes of French Ligue 1 team Paris Saint-Germain and Italian Serie A club Juventus as a partner of Socios.com, which was an Official Category Partner at last week’s BT Sport Industry Awards 2019.
Socios.com is a first-of-its-kind mobile app for football fans and allows supporters to vote on selected club decisions, earn club rewards and compete for once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
Supporters buy, earn or hunt Fan Tokens which give them access to rewards, exclusive merchandise, games, leaderboards and other experiences.
Socios.com will launch the Official Fan Token of West Ham, which will seek input and opinions from fans by running exclusive polls on the mobile app. It is hoped the initiative will bring West Ham fans both in the UK and abroad closer to the club.
The West Ham Fan Token will be available to fans from the start of the 2019-20 season through the Socios.com app. The value of the token will go up and down based on market demand and fans will have a greater influence if they hold more tokens.
The token will be tradeable against Socios.com’s native token, $CHZ. Supporters will be required to purchase ChiliZ tokens to exchange into Fan Tokens.
Karim Virani, Digital & Commercial Director at West Ham, said: “We recognise that many fans are now digital users first, with many looking at and using new technologies in their day-to-day lives.
“As a result, West Ham United’s presence on Socios.com’s state-of-the-art platform will further give us the ability to interact and get direct feedback in real time from our global fan base which will be important to our future fan engagement strategy. We’re very excited about the possibilities Socios.com offers us to give fans the best experience possible, whether they live within a mile of the stadium or thousands of miles away.”
Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO and Founder of Socios.com, said the firm would soon be announcing further European partners, with more Premier League clubs set to follow West Ham.
