Sputnik Floyd and Mr. B.Chain Launch Football-inspired NFT

In the midst of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Sputnik Floyd and sister company Mr. B.Chain launched a football-inspired NFT for Ithra, generated by match heat maps and stats.

Sputnik Floyd and Mr. B.Chain’s proactive idea to give every football match a unique fingerprint is in line with our promise to help brands create NFT projects that strongly correspond with their vision and/or generate business opportunities. Ithra – the forward-thinking Saudi brand by Aramco – was the very first to express an interest in this initiative.  

Building on the fact that this year’s FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is the first to be held in the Middle East and the premise that football is also an art, the concept of creating an NFT collection inspired by match data was conceived by Sputnik Floyd as a means of documenting this historic regional event.

Executed under the name “From Strike to Stroke“, Sputnik Floyd collaborated with its Web3-blockchain sister company, Mr. B.Chain, to create a digital NFT exhibition comprising artworks generated by using individual match statistics – the first of which was the clash between Qatar and Ecuador on the opening day of the World Cup, November 20. 

Ithra has had a key role in curating the distinctive NFT collection in collaboration with 32 artists representing each of the competing nations. Using their respective team’s jersey colors, the contributing creatives produced striking art representing their country.

Following each game, an AI-powered algorithm combines statistics on possession, goal, penalty, total number of shots and other match attributes with the artists’ creations to produce 64 pieces of NFT art.

In other words, this unique interaction between man and machine is enabling us to translate each game into a one-off NFT under the banner of ‘For the Art of the Beautiful Game’ that Ithra has chosen not to make available for purchase, instead opting to focus on exposure and ensure that the art can be seen and appreciated by as many people as possible and from all walks of life. 

Demonstrating its faith in and dedication to the project, Ithra also collaborated with its on-ground partners to create a physical display in a sprawling exhibition space hosted at the Msheireb Galleria in Doha, allowing audiences of all ages and backgrounds to enjoy the collection to their heart’s content in a gallery setup.

Indeed, the concept has been so innovative and effective that other big brands have picked up on it and are not only emulating, but outright imitating it in their campaigns during the World Cup. 

With Mr. B.Chain’s presence increasing across the Middle East and the strength of its partnership with Sputnik Floyd, the ambitious duo is seeking to change the game for brands and Web3 by combining creativity and business objectives in innovating to benefit the public.