In a first for sports properties in India, the Hero Indian Super League(ISL), has partnered up with London-based platform Terra Virtua ahead of the 2020-21 season, to introduce a range of digital collectibles to fans and followers of the premier football competition in the country.

Terra Virtua is the world’s first fully immersive social, digital collectibles platform, and the agreement with the Hero ISL marks their entry into the dynamic world of sports. Unique digital collectibles like player cards, in-match highlights, and souvenirs featuring each of the 11 clubs can now be purchased and traded through Terra Virtua’s unique marketplace.

What are NFTs?

The best way to go about understanding what a Non-fungible token means, is to break down the sophisticated term and first look at it in silos.

Fungible is defined as something which is replaceable by another item, thus non-fungible means it is not replaceable by another item.

A ‘token’ is the representation of an asset on the blockchain, like an advanced barcode, and this ‘token’ provides the owner with all the information about that specific asset, which includes who owns the asset, how much has it been traded for, its mint number, etc. The assets can range from unique collectibles, paintings, music to even a book.

Thus, when these two individual terms are put together, a non-fungible token can be deemed as a unique identifier on the blockchain that holds all the data about something you have purchased and is proof of ownership of an asset(like a digital receipt).

Like most physical assets, the value of an NFT is determined by its rarity, the quality of the work, the name/brand associated with its creation, how easy it is to buy, and the price someone is willing to pay. The blockchain tracks which mint item you have (eg: 1 of 100 or 1 of 2), and that helps understand the rarity of an item.

For deeper insights into NFTs, refer to the guide available on Terra Virtua’s blog.

What unique Hero ISL digital collectibles are available to fans as tokens?

The Terra Virtua platform has introduced its debut collection of digital collectibles for the Hero ISL. The first set of collectibles are 2D-Animated team posters of each of the 11 teams, featuring players from the 2020-21 season, the club strip, the club logo, and a star player in a memorable moment.

The next set of collectibles are player trading cards, which bear a picture of the player, statistics from the particular season, jersey number, position, and nationality. Each team’s collection shall consist of four iconic players who have once represented the club in the Hero ISL. The cards have varying levels of rarity determined by the number of cards minted, with ‘common’ versions being the least rare and ‘legendary’ versions being the rarest of the lot.

Every club also has a virtual mascot in Terra Virtua’s popular robot VFLECTS, which is native to the platform and can be found dressed up in the respective club’s colours. Each VFLECT is a 3D-animated model that can be viewed, rotated, and can also go through a range of motions. To make the experience more realistic, users can interact with them via augmented reality using Terra Virtua’s mobile application.

Where can these collectibles be purchased?

The digital collectibles can be accessed and purchased through Terra Virtua’s marketplace, and those interested must first sign up for the platform. Once a user purchases a collectible, it will be stored in their Terra Virtua account.

As a special first-time offer, every fan will get a free VFLECT mascot of the club they support once they sign up on the platform and pick their preferred team.

Related tags:

2021-2022