The Maradona NFT Collection is comprised of 10 NFTs connected to the World Soccer Treasure items from the Maradona estate.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, November 3, 2021 – EX Sports, a platform that allows sports fans to buy, trade and sell digital sports collectibles, in partnership with CV Labs and World Football Collection, sold the first four ‘Platinum Edition’ Diego Maradona sports memorabilia as non-fungible phygital tokens (NFTs). The opening round of Maradona items launched at 9 p.m. Dubai time at an exhibition auction on Saturday, October 30th, the birthday of the late Maradona, at the DMCC Crypto Center.
All items in the opening round sold for a total of $79,000.00. To view the full collection, visit www.maradona10.io.
“This one-of-a-kind collection is made up of important pieces of sports history and Maradona’s career. We’re excited to be launching these items exclusively on the marketplace for the first time ever,” said Toli Makris, CEO, EX Sports.
The memorabilia consists of previously worn and used Maradona items that are certified as official by the World Soccer Treasures.
“To me, he wasn’t just a football legend — but a friend. This is a ground-breaking moment for the community of Maradona fans and collectors around the globe,” said Stefano Ceci, Maradona’s former manager, and lawyer. “The reason the event was held in Dubai is because that’s where Maradona spent his last years so that added to the significance of this program,” said Stefano Ceci, Maradona’s former manager, and lawyer.”
“If you go back in history, you cannot forget Maradona who has been probably the biggest player ever. Of course, he has a big space in our collection. We’re excited to partner with EX Sports to put together some items that really represent the life and career of Maradona,” said Matteo Pella, COO, World Football Collection.
The auction event will span 30 days. On Saturday, the bidding opened with the first four out-of-10 exclusive items in the “Platinum NFT” round with the highest bidder winning the NFT and the physical memorabilia piece. The four items included:
- Napoli Contract Signing Pen: The S.T. Dupont pen that Diego Maradona used to sign his contract with when joining Napoli in 1984. Napoli contract signing pen (final sale price – $26,000.00)
- 1986 Argentina signed jersey 1986 Argentina Signed Jersey: The Official 1986 World Cup Argentina Number 10 jersey of Maradona, signed by the legend himself. (final sale price – $24, 000.00)
- 1979 Best Player Trophy: The trophy El Mundo awarded Diego Maradona, recognizing him as the Best Player of the 1979 FIFA Youth World Cup. 1979 Best Player Trophy (final sale price – $11,000.00)
- Sean Garnier’s freestyle football that Maradona signed and showcased his skills with by doing a few ‘head ups’. Also signed by the legendary Pele.Soccer ball signed by Maradona and Pele – (final sale price – $18,000.00)
Each of the 10 NFTs in the collection has one Platinum Edition and a varying number of Gold Editions. While four of the Platinum Editions were sold this past Saturday, the remaining six Platinum Editions will be available this month.
During the exhibition, mixed media and celebrity portrait artist Hans Ulrich Pauly and his son Florian Pauly demonstrated how an NFT is created through painting a piece in real-time. The frame is made out of rock crystal and 23-carat gold and there are hundreds of hours of craftsmanship just in the frame alone. The painting will be auctioned as fractional ownership in 1,960 items in the coming month.
“There’s a story behind every memorabilia item and detail around the exhibition and auction. The 10, exclusive items represent Maradona’s player number and the fractional ownership of the 1,960 pieces of the painting signify the year 1960, the year Maradona was born,” said Toli Makris, CEO, EX Sports.
Following the painting auction, United Through Sports, a charity alliance focused on addressing injustice, poverty, and discrimination in youth sports will receive five percent of the proceeds from the original painting and 10 percent of the proceeds from the digital edition.
4Art Technologies, the company that collaborated with EX Sports on authentication, verification, and minting was represented by Niko Kipouros.
Other speakers and exhibition partners included football freestyle world champion Sean Garnier. This announcement of the first-ever Maradona digital collectibles comes on the heels of EX Sports announcing an NFT pre-launch with Sean Garnier during Gitex Global. You can read more about that partnership here.
Visit this link to see an up-to-date list of Maradona digital collectibles that have sold so far as part of the 30-day auction — and their final sale prices.
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About EX-Sports
Founded in 2019, EX Sports’ Ethereum-based NFT platform allows sports fans to buy, trade, and sell digital sports collectibles. Designed to support lesser-known athletes in sports such as Muay Thai, powerlifting, arm wrestling, and jiu jitsu – the EX Sports platform is a decentralized, globalized sports blockchain platform that promotes the rise of the “underdog.”
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