Socios, Messi

Special report: Socios expects to make £150 from each fan who buys a token

Joey D'Urso
Apr 29, 2022

“Lionel Messi Approved,” boasts the Twitter bio of Socios, the company that has sponsorship deals with many of Europe’s biggest football clubs and can now name the Argentinian superstar as its “global brand ambassador”.

As a follower of football, you may have heard of this “fan engagement” firm, which works with clubs to sell digital tokens to supporters to enable them to “influence your team, access VIP rewards, exclusive promotions and join a global community of superfans”.

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Socios has deals with six Premier League clubs — Crystal Palace, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Everton, Leeds United and Manchester City — as well as Barcelona, Juventus and a raft of other European teams, and issues tokens based on blockchain, the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin as well as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

In August, after Messi joined Paris Saint-Germain from Barcelona, media outlets around the world reported how he had been paid “partly in cryptocurrency”.

As rumours gathered pace that Messi would be leaving Barcelona, PSG’s Socios token increased — or “pumped” — dramatically in value, enabling holders of the tokens to make huge sums as its value spiked to $50 (£40) each. But after the deal was formally announced by PSG, the token crashed in value and within months it had slumped below $15 (£12).

A Socios spokesperson said it was “inaccurate” to link last summer’s Messi announcement to a price increase because the token value declined in subsequent days.

“These tokens are for fans and, as in a market for any new product, there will be a number of dynamics at play which impact upon their price. In the world of football, media reports on potential transfers can be one of those dynamics – this was the case during the early part of August when the $PSG token rose in value as the media reported that Messi may join the club.”

The value of Socios tokens and its underlying cryptocurrency Chiliz has followed a similar pattern: broadly increasing until last summer, meaning those who had bought and sold their tokens had made money, before it tanked in value. After Messi was announced as a “brand ambassador” last month, Chiliz “pumped” in value again, only for the gains once more to vanish as traders cashed out.

An Arsenal token, for example, has lost about 60 per cent of its value in the past six months, while Manchester City, PSG and Juventus tokens have plunged by around half.

As a financial investment, the general trend is clear. Socios, though, has repeatedly claimed the product has nothing to do with investment.

“In 2022, investment in the platform has focused on deepening levels of engagement, delivering rewards and money-can’t-buy experiences for fans and developing new features for the platform’s users,” a spokesperson said.

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Meanwhile, though, the prevailing mood music among the vast majority has also tipped from confusion to anger, with banners appearing in stadiums against Socios and furious reactions on social media when an English club mentions the firm.

Arsenal were reprimanded in December by the UK Advertising Standards Authority, which deemed the club had “trivialised investment in cryptoassets and took advantage of consumers’ inexperience or credulity” in a promotion for Socios that featured three first-team players. Arsenal has said it is seeking a review of the ruling.

Now, fresh evidence obtained by The Athletic reveals new concerns about the firm:

  • Socios has told at least one Premier League club when pitching to it that it expects to make €181 (£150) from each fan who buys a token.
  • Only 47 per cent of fan token holders had ever voted in a poll by the summer of 2021.
  • A careful look at the terms and conditions reveals the company’s claims that fan tokens are “forever” does not amount to much after the end of the sponsorship arrangement.
  • Thirty-eight per cent of Socios’ customers are in the Middle East area including Turkey.

Socios insists that it exists for the benefit of fans rather than as a means of currency speculation.

“These tokens are for fans,” a company spokesperson said. “We work with our partner clubs to provide regular rewards and experiences through these tokens, which makes them worth owning because of what they offer to fans.

“Every week, token holders are winning VIP match-day experiences and attending meet-and-greets with current and ex-players. They’re also voting on things like kit designs or the programme covers of big matches.”


In its public-facing literature, Socios makes a big point of emphasising the “fan engagement” aspects of its tokens, as do the clubs with which the company has partnerships. Token trading is downplayed or not discussed at all.

Crystal Palace became the Premier League’s sixth Socios club a few months ago. As part of the launch, the club published a lengthy series of disclaimers about the dangers of trading a risky and volatile financial crypto-asset.

A Socios spokesperson, meanwhile, told The Athletic that the company “never advertises trading to potential users, because fan tokens were not conceived for trading or investment purposes, but as utility assets that unlock a new digital service”.

But in a slideshow that Socios has used to pitch itself to a Premier League club, which has been seen by The Athletic, there are some stark differences between how the company markets itself to fans, and how it may have envisaged doing so when it pitched the tokens to potential commercial partners.

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The presentation says “fan token trading provides a continuous commission-based revenue stream”. In other words, the company is appearing to have suggested token trading as a way for clubs to make cash, whereas now it claims that this aspect is treated as almost an irrelevant sideshow.

Socios also describes itself in the pitch document as a “blockchain-powered fan transactional app” and claims the “average revenue per fan token buyer” is €181 (£150) and only 47 per cent of fan token holders have ever voted in a poll. This is very different to the “fan engagement” device now being extolled by clubs’ in-house media and on social media channels.

A Socios spokesperson said the platform “gives the clubs the chance to benefit from (trading) financially”, but added that revenue primarily comes from the company selling new tokens rather than commissions on trades.

“Like any business, the conversations we have with different groups vary,” the spokesperson added. “Fan tokens are new tools that clubs can use to provide their fans with rewards and experiences. We’re always speaking with them about what more they can do so that these tokens offer even more to fans.

“At the same time, of course, we will also cover topics with clubs that are more commercial in nature. This is simply the nature of any business. While tokens bring something new and different to fans, they also represent a revenue stream for clubs.”


Darren Epstein is a former Arsenal shareholder who is now closely engaged with the club hierarchy as a fan representative.

He says Arsenal token holders have been offered a handful of seemingly trivial polls and VIP competitions since the token launched last summer, including one poll that earned the club the unprecedented rebuke from the Advertising Standards Authority.

A club spokesperson disputed the argument that fan polls are trivial, adding: “The numbers of people getting involved in the polls and competitions shows there is considerable interest from our supporters.”

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The spokesperson pointed out that a non-tradable token is made available to season ticket holders and members. “We gave all season ticket holders and members the option to redeem a free non-tradable token to give them the opportunity to take part in polls and competitions that are unique to Arsenal,” they said.

“Anyone who wants to buy a tradable token can do so, and we make people aware there are financial risks. However, we are not promoting this as a financial investment, and we are clear it’s about engaging with the club by taking part in polls and competitions.”

Socios makes a big deal of the rewards given to token holders, and has shared with The Athletic many examples of football fans enjoying exciting opportunities, such as a VIP box at a big match, as rewards for holding Socios tokens at clubs including Arsenal, where the company says it has given away 2,230 tickets this season.

Yet Arsenal already has a well-established, in-house loyalty scheme where fans who attend matches can accumulate points that can be used for genuine, tangible rewards, such as match tickets and the chance to meet players. The same is true of another Socios club, Aston Villa, which has a well-developed loyalty scheme where fans who attend lots of matches can earn points to receive free merchandise or enter away ticket ballots.

Much of the “engagement” visible on the Socios app appears trivial at best. Manchester City’s Socios app recently asked token holders about which songs should be played before a game.

Before that, the previous fan poll was in November, asking fans to vote between “wallpapers” of generic photographs of City players. Token holders have also been able to enter competitions for VIP tickets.

Fans of Leeds United were quick to spot when a quiz about former players contained glaring spelling errors.

These polls may seem of limited impact but the mood music in English football appears to be shifting from bemusement and confusion to outright rage. For all its claims to be a company created for the benefit of football fans, Socios appears to be deeply unpopular with many of them.

After their club announced a deal with the company, Crystal Palace fans lifted a banner in the crowd calling the company “parasites”.

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Every Premier League club that has tweeted out a deal with Socios has seen a furious reaction among their replies, while fan forums at multiple clubs have criticised the scheme, alongside the Football Supporters’ Association.

After the UEFA tie-in was announced, Football Supporters Europe, which is part-funded by UEFA, reacted furiously, saying it was “appalled” by the decision to team up with Socios, “a company that monetises fan engagement at the expense of match-going fans”.

A Socios spokesperson said: “Socios is passionate about using new technology to build a fan-first product and we recently wrote to the Premier League proposing standards — essentially a code of practice — that should be expected of our sector in sport, including measures around consumer protection.

“We are positively engaging with clubs, regulators and stakeholders, and we would like to see progress on standards and responsibilities across the markets we operate in.”


Martin Calladine is an independent investigative journalist who recently published Fit and Proper People: The Lies and Fall of Owna FC, a book about football club ownership, with James Cave.

He has long used his Twitter account and personal blog to raise questions over Socios and notes an apparent contradiction between much of Socios’ marketing and a line buried in the small print of the terms and conditions on the Socios website.

On its website, the company made the repeated claim that fan tokens are “forever” and “do not expire”.

This claim is repeated by clubs. For example, Everton says its $EFC tokens “do not expire… fan tokens are collectible digital passes that never expire”.

Leeds United says on its website: “You have your free Fan Token, it’s yours for life. It will never expire and can be used every time to vote and access VIP experiences.”

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But a close examination of the company’s terms and conditions reveals the tokens lose any real usefulness when Socios’ licence with the club expires. They just become “collectibles”.

Point 7.8.9 says “the fan token may lose its voting right and therefore the use of the particular fan token will become limited and may also lose value upon the expiration of the partner’s agreement or in any other case where the partnership with such partner is terminated for whatever reason”.

The rhetoric of “forever” and “don’t expire”, however, is ubiquitous in the company’s public-facing marketing.

A Socios spokesperson said: “Fan tokens don’t expire — whatever happens, the fan who has purchased them will continue to own these collectibles.”

Even if the licensing deal with the club runs out so the token can’t be used to vote on anything, or it tanks in value so it can’t be converted back into cash, users will “forever” hold a token in their digital wallet as a “collectible” — rather like a French Franc or German Mark in a drawer from a long-ago holiday.

Calladine points out that these tokens are “fungible”, meaning they are completely interchangeable with one another, which means they are unlikely to ever have real value as a “collectible”. One person’s Arsenal token is identical to the millions of other Arsenal tokens in circulation.

“In my view, this crosses the line from misleading marketing,” says Calladine. “The message from Socios and their clubs couldn’t be clearer: fan tokens are forever. But the truth is, these things, which fans are encouraged to buy and trade, could become obsolete overnight if clubs don’t renew their contracts.”


Socios tokens are also proving controversial in a very different way.

Beneath many recent tweets from the firm are posts from users based in Turkey expressing their frustration at the constant decline in value of the tokens that they appear to have bought as a financial investment.

The Financial Times recently reported how cryptocurrency trading is booming in Turkey as ordinary people, generally far poorer than the average European football fan, try to hedge against the collapse of the Turkish lira.

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The decline of Turkey’s currency means buying any goods imported from abroad is more expensive, so the cost of living is constantly increasing, and people’s lira savings are worth far less than they were. To try to combat this, many Turkish people have looked to cryptocurrency with excitement, after many boomed in value in early 2021.

Many Socios users — especially in Turkey — see these tokens as a financial investment rather than a tool for fan engagement.

The leaked Socios document says 38 per cent of its customers are in the Middle East area including Turkey, slightly more than are based in Europe (37 per cent).

An employee at one Socios club told The Athletic that the club’s tokens see barely any activity from the host country, but lots from Turkey and the Middle East, leaving many puzzled as to how exactly this is “engaging” the club’s fanbase. A Google analysis also shows that most visitors to the Socios website come from the poorest eastern regions of Turkey.

“Turkey is a country that is home to both a huge community of football fans and also to a big community of blockchain enthusiasts,” a Socios spokesperson said. “In many ways, it’s been a test, or launchpad, market for expansion everywhere else. We’ve had an office in Turkey since 2019.” The company also says its userbase in countries such as Italy and Spain is growing.


Socios’ tie-in with world-famous clubs makes them feel more familiar to the people who buy them. Tokens are initially snapped up amid excitement, perhaps from a football fan thrilled to vote on a song, but also perhaps from people who hope the tokens will go up in value in the way Bitcoin did for many years.

Some people then try to make a quick buck by selling on the token, and that person then wants to sell on the token for more than they paid for it.

In the very short term, this means tokens have often spiked at the start. For example, two million Arsenal tokens were initially sold for £2 ($2.76), then traded publicly for more than double this, allowing early investors to cash out a quick profit.

But after this initial hype, for Arsenal and many other tokens, the graph generally slides down as supply exceeds demand and more and more people try to turn their digital assets into real money.

Socios and the world’s biggest football clubs have made tens of millions of dollars. But those who remain are left holding these tokens.

They are hardly likely to be reassured by the company telling them they can keep them forever as the controversies mount and the graphs continue towards the floor.

(Top photos: Socios, Getty Images; design: Sam Richardson)

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