Latin America. Football is played on the pitch and seen in the stands, but the matches are followed on TV, on the radio, in newspapers and some have even become movies. The sport of the ball has been understood perfectly with the mass media, in fact, today, few conceive the love of football as something that can only be seen on the field. Football has been transformed and adapted over the years and its enjoyment is not only on the pitch.
In fact, now FIFA presented several experiences for the Qatar 2022 World Cup that adopt the latest fashion technologies: the metaverse and Web 3.0. The organization seeks to expand into virtual games and worlds with the aim of involving new generations. Since, as Ferran Lalueza, professor of Communication Studies at the UOC, suggests, "the youngest audience no longer watches an entire football match without looking at the mobile, we must pull mechanisms to continue hooking people".
Roblox: Playing and socializing in the digital environment
The first experience is FIFA World, a themed virtual environment within the Roblox online gaming platform that offers users rewards and collectible virtual items that they can earn through various skill mini-games. FIFA World will also feature virtual spaces to socialize with friends and enjoy exclusive FIFA video content. In fact, the organization included in the experience the avatar of the Spanish footballer of FC Barcelona, Pedri, and the midfielder of Germany and Vfl Wolfsburg, Lena Oberdorf.
Christina Wootton, vice president of global partnerships at Roblox, said virtual worlds offer opportunities to enjoy these types of events with friends from around the world, without having to be in the same physical space.
The World Cup in the metaverse with Upland
However, apart from Roblox, FIFA launched another experience in the metaverse by the hand of Upland. Thus, those who are part of or join the Upland community, which today has around 4 million registered users worldwide, will have the privilege of acquiring, collecting and marketing these digital assets. All within the platform itself, which is based on blockchain technology.
In the FIFA World Cup experience with Upland, users can create an Upland avatar to travel to the replica of Lusail Stadium in Doha. In addition, this digital world is based on real-world locations. It's actually like playing on Google Maps.
Metaverse yes, but beware of hooligans
The Metaverse in football opens a range of possibilities that, also, have their risks. Ferran Lalueza, reflects on this and considers that it will be necessary to create limits or rules of coexistence, especially to curb the uncivil behaviors of hooligans. "It is a world that has conflicting backgrounds, the fans live it with a lot of passion and most of the time this feeling overflows in ways that are not very peaceful," he explains.
And if these situations already occur in bars or football stadiums, "in the metaverse much more," says Lalueza. In his opinion, the hooligans will have much more freedom in their performances, since in the end each one will connect from home with which "there will be no control more than you have at that time," he says. On the other hand, Laluerza believes that the sports sector will have to "redefine the business model to find a balance between the benefits of real and virtual sport" and ensures that, perhaps, it will take a decade to see where business can be generated.
Football always adapting
The metamorphosis that football is experiencing in the metaverse was not the only one that this sport lived. He also had it in the cinema. In fact, Carlos Marañón, journalist, Director of the Cinemanía Magazine and collaborator of Cadena Ser, has narrated in his latest book Barullo en el área: football in 50 fundamental films, such as celluloid has also used football to hook its audience.
Its author considers that football and cinema are "the two great passions of our time. Contemporary, universal, popular and open to all imaginable possibilities of enjoyment. And despite being born at the same time and evolving in parallel, they have always been close, "suggests the Marañón, in the prologue of the book. In fact, its publication is an "uncomplex and heterodox" list of the 50 films that reflect both the essence of football and cinema. "The two are contemporary totems with the ability to make us dream, to generate huge feelings and income, to create mass idols and even to brighten (or bitter) our day, they have many links with each other," he concludes.
Analysis presented by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, UOC.
