FIFA Selects Avalanche to Power the Future of Football on the Blockchain

FIFA, the global governing body of football, is accelerating its Web3 strategy with the launch of a dedicated blockchain built on Avalanche.

Announced on 22 May, the initiative marks a significant shift in FIFA’s digital engagement efforts, leveraging Avalanche’s high-performance infrastructure to serve its global fanbase of over five billion people.

Dubbed the FIFA Blockchain, the new network is designed as a sovereign layer-1 chain offering high throughput, low latency, and autonomous governance—while maintaining full interoperability with both the Avalanche ecosystem and the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

The blockchain will power FIFA’s digital offerings, starting with the migration of FIFA Collect, its official NFT platform for trading digital football highlights and memorabilia.

The statement read:

“By selecting Avalanche, FIFA is not simply embracing blockchain, it is establishing a long-term digital foundation capable of supporting the scale, speed, and flexibility required by the world’s most-watched sport.”

This move follows FIFA’s earlier announcement of plans to leave Algorand, where FIFA Collect originally launched, and consolidate its digital assets under a new, purpose-built platform.

Some collectibles had also been issued via Polygon, but the shift to Avalanche signals a strategic consolidation.

Modex and FIFA Collect CEO Francesco Abbate stated in a 22 May announcement shared:

“The decision was based on a rigorous analysis of key factors including performance, security, transaction fees, customizability, and scalability.”

With the backing of Avalanche’s AvaCloud platform, FIFA aims to streamline integration with decentralised applications and wallets, enabling scalable, immersive fan experiences.

According to Abbate, the partnership will unlock a new generation of blockchain-based engagement—anchored in speed, scalability, and user accessibility.

He noted:

“This move enhances our ability to deliver unique digital collectibles and immersive fan experiences, powered by the speed, scalability, and EVM compatibility. That means seamless integration with popular wallets, easier access, and a future-proof foundation for growth. We’re proud to help lay the groundwork for a new era of digital football, and this technology aligned best with the long-term vision and the technical requirements needed to support the continued growth of our digital ecosystem.”

FIFA Collect Migrates to Avalanche for Web3 Expansion

Before Thursday’s announcement, FIFA had already revealed that its new Avalanche-powered FIFA Blockchain would serve as the foundation for its NFT platform, FIFA Collect.

As part of this transition, FIFA Collect will migrate from the Algorand blockchain to the new network.

While future initiatives and business plans remain undisclosed, FIFA confirmed clear guidance will be provided for users.

Post-migration, Algorand-based wallets like Pera and Defly will no longer be supported; instead, users will access FIFA Collect via MetaMask or other EVM-compatible wallets supporting WalletConnect.

According to Abbate, this strategic shift was driven by a thorough evaluation of performance, scalability, and customization capabilities.

Ava Labs Chief Business Officer John Nahas said:

"FIFA is a world-renowned brand and league. Avalanche gives it the infrastructure and scale to leverage their global audience, fan base, and business ambitions on their terms and to expand with assets, applications, and use cases as they grow.”

With FIFA’s digital collectibles platform moving to its own blockchain, industry experts like Nahas view this as a significant milestone toward broader blockchain adoption in sports and entertainment.

The migration of FIFA Collect is just the first step in FIFA’s roadmap for its new blockchain.

Although further business plans are in the pipeline, details have yet to be disclosed.

Nahas added:

“I’m excited, I’m sure the Avalanche community will be thrilled, and the broader industry should see the largest sports league in the world expanding on-chain, with their own chain, as a step towards real world adoption of this technology that can bring about new assets, applications, and use cases.”

Last year, FIFA also announced a collaboration with Mythical Games to launch FIFA Rivals, a free-to-play mobile soccer game debuting this month on iOS and Android.

The game lets players build and manage football clubs through real-time arcade-style competition and features an in-game NFT marketplace powered by the Mythos blockchain, where users can trade football star collectibles.