100s of M
Football fans worldwide who could plausibly enter the FIFA Collect ecosystem. The chain has to scale to that user base without buckling under shared-infrastructure congestion.
How FIFA launched its own blockchain, and made the technology disappear.
FIFA does not run pilots. With hundreds of millions of fans worldwide, it needed a sovereign chain it controlled, not a slot in someone else's general-purpose blockchain.
Sports & MediaCollectiblesGlobalSovereign L1
The Sovereignty Problem
General-purpose chains weren't built for global IP at FIFA's scale.
FIFA needed control over fees, users, and applications, not a tenancy on a chain competing for blockspace with memecoins and DeFi traffic. The decision wasn't whether to use blockchain. It was whose blockchain.
May 2025
FIFA Collect officially moved to the FIFA Blockchain, a faster, more powerful, wallet-friendly experience designed for the future of fan engagement.
EVM-compatible
Connects with MetaMask and any EVM wallet from day one. Interoperable with the rest of the Avalanche ecosystem, not isolated from it.
AvaCloud Solved the Problem
A sovereign chain for FIFA, with a developer ecosystem on top.
The FIFA Blockchain is a dedicated Avalanche L1 launched on AvaCloud after a detailed performance, security, and flexibility review. It gives FIFA full ownership of its infrastructure: faster transactions, lower fees, and easy integration with any other EVM-compatible chain.
Modex builds the FIFA Collect platform on top, the user-facing experience where fans buy packs of digital collectibles tied to iconic moments and players. But FIFA Collect is just the first use case. The chain is open to third-party developers who can build fan apps, fantasy leagues, and blockchain-based games directly on FIFA's L1.
Users were welcomed in with a $10 launch coupon and a familiar buying flow, connect a wallet (or use the abstracted login path), choose a pack, complete the purchase. The blockchain stays in the background. The fan experience does not.
"The blockchain is not the highlight. The blockchain is the technology that enables the application, the asset, the use case to really go mainstream.", John Nahas, Chief Business Officer, Ava Labs
Architecture
One sovereign L1, three layers, an open platform for football's digital future.
The FIFA Blockchain is built so the platform can keep adding fan experiences without re-architecting underneath. The L1 stays the same. New apps plug in at the application layer. Fans don't notice the chain.
Layer 03Fan apps
AppFIFA CollectBuilt by Modex
AppFantasy leaguesThird-party
AppFootball gamesThird-party
AppNew fan experiencesOpen platform
Layer 02FIFA Blockchain
L1EVM-compatibleAvalanche
L1Low fees, fast txnsSovereign
L1Wallet-friendlyMetaMask + more
L1Cross-chain interopNative
Layer 01AvaCloud Ops
OpsValidator management24/7
OpsMonitoring & uptimeAround the clock
OpsPerformance reviewContinuous
OpsExpert Web3 supportAva Labs team
Application surfaceSovereign L1 (FIFA Blockchain)FIFA sovereigntyManaged by AvaCloud
General-purpose vs. Sovereign
Same digital collectibles. A different control surface.
FIFA Collect already existed on shared infrastructure. The migration to a sovereign L1 didn't change what fans collect, it changed who controls the chain those collectibles live on, and what's possible to build on top.
FIFA Collect on a general-purpose chain
Tenancy
Competing for blockspace with unrelated traffic and apps.
- Fees and throughput dictated by traffic FIFA didn't control.
- No sovereignty over upgrades, governance, or roadmap.
- Limited differentiation, just another collection on a public chain.
- Third-party developers had no special access to FIFA IP.
- Fan experience constrained by the host chain's defaults.
FIFA Collect on a sovereign L1
Ownership
A dedicated chain FIFA controls end-to-end.
- Faster transactions and lower fees, isolated from public congestion.
- Full sovereignty over fees, governance, and platform direction.
- EVM-compatible, works with MetaMask and the wider Avalanche ecosystem.
- Third-party developers can build fantasy leagues and games on FIFA's chain.
- Future-ready foundation for the next generation of fan engagement.
The Network FIFA Joined
Sports, media, and consumer brands are all building on AvaCloud.
FIFA's chain sits in a growing fabric of consumer-facing AvaCloud L1s. Brands at global scale are choosing sovereignty over tenancy, the same playbook, in different industries.
Global
FIFA
FIFA Collect runs on its own AvaCloud L1, EVM-compatible, future-ready blockchain infrastructure for hundreds of millions of football fans.
FIFA Blockchain · Live
South Korea
SK Planet
UPTN powers OK Cashbag (21M+ members), NFT-based event ticketing, and the broader Web3 ambitions of SK Square's ICT business.
UPTN · Live
Japan
Loyalty Marketing (Ponta)
Ponta, 100M+ Japanese loyalty members, brought onchain via PlayThink and AvaCloud. Mass-scale NFT issuance with no Web3 friction for end users.
Ponta L1 · Live
South Korea
NHN KCP
Korea's largest payment processor moved settlement onchain on AvaCloud, $38B annual volume, sub-second finality, encryption-native privacy.
Payment Chain · 2026
What This Delivered
The economics of running football's IP on its own chain.
From day-one launch posture to the developer ecosystem on top, the move to AvaCloud-managed L1 infrastructure changed what was possible, and gave FIFA a sovereign foundation for the next generation of fan engagement.
Sovereignty over chain & roadmap
Retained by FIFA
Wallet compatibility
MetaMask + EVM wallets
Cross-chain interoperability
Native to Avalanche ecosystem
Third-party developer access
Open to fantasy leagues, games, fan apps
Launch coupon for new fans
$10 starter pack credit
Validator capex & ops complexity
Eliminated by AvaCloud
Future-readiness for blockchain mainstream
Designed for the long view
Your IP could be running on its own chain.
FIFA didn't rent blockspace. It launched a sovereign chain it controls, isolated from public congestion, open to a developer ecosystem, and built to make blockchain disappear behind the experience. Same playbook is available for any global brand, on AvaCloud-managed L1 infrastructure.