Crypto Community Welcomes Football Star, Mario Gotze, to its Fold

German footballer and 2014 World Cup hero Mario Gotze is now a proud crypto community member. The World Cup winner announced this in a way that has become characteristic of superstars by changing his Twitter profile picture to a Smolverse NFT.

Gotze Uses Crypto-related Name and Profile Picture on Twitter

He also went ahead to use his Ethereum Name Service (ENS) as his Twitter handle, joining the likes of Budweiser, Alexis Ohanian, and others who’ve done so.

Making smol steps in the crypto space pic.twitter.com/UkRRtDthTf

— mariogotze.eth (@MarioGoetze) January 5, 2022

The highlight of Gotze’s football career was scoring the winning goal against Argentina in the final of the 2014 World Cup. At the age of 22 then, Gotze became a national hero. But his footballing career hasn’t been much of a joyride since then, with injuries and criticisms at different stages.

Mario Gotze’s purchase of an NFT also marks the continued entrance of celebrities into the crypto space.

This has become increasingly common in recent times. While there are several reasons for entry, diversification of portfolio and adding another source of income appear to be the main reasons celebrities get into crypto.

The Rise of Crypto Adoption in Sports

Recently, Spanish football legend and another World Cup winning-goal scorer, Andres Iniesta was warned by Spanish regulators after he promoted Binance with a tweet without disclosing that it was a paid promotion.

But beyond advertising crypto exchanges, sports stars are also launching their crypto products. Recently, Argentine superstar and arguably the greatest footballer of all time, Lionel Messi, launched his NFT collection.

This was after agreeing to collect part of his salary in Paris Saint Germain’s (PSG) fan tokens.

Just as footballers are getting involved in crypto and NFT, other sports stars are doing the same.

The all-time highest three-pointer in the NBA, Stephen Curry bought a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT and launched his sneakers NFT. NFL Quarterback legend Tom Brady has an NFT collection and recently launched his own NFT platform. 

Last year, Brady expressed his desire to earn in Bitcoin. It’s not only sports individuals getting involved in the crypto space. Even institutions, such as leagues and clubs, are getting in on the action.

Last year, the sports NFT platform, Sorare, reached an agreement with La Liga and Bundesliga. In America, crypto companies have bought naming rights to several iconic arenas, and football clubs are releasing fan tokens too.

The adoption in the sporting scene continues into the new year too. The 2022 Australian Open scheduled for later this month will be the first grand slam to incorporate NFTs. All these show just how much NFTs and crypto have become mainstream over the years.