Art and collectibles • December 20, 2022, 5:16PM EST

Argentine fan token sinks after World Cup win as parade fizzles with players evacuated

Quick Take

Argentina’s men’s soccer team is the World Cup champion for the third time, but a token linked to it is collapsing.
The Argentine Football fan token price surged to $6.40 the day of the win, but fell to $2.67 days after.

Argentina won the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, but a fan token connected to the team is collapsing.

The Argentine Football Association Fan Token, offered through partnerships with Socios, jumped to $6.40 on Dec. 18, the day of the FIFA World Cup Final, before falling 58% to $2.67 on Dec. 20.

Players arrived in Buenos Aires overnight on Dec. 20 and were scheduled to parade around the city on a bus today. Millions of fans descended upon the streets, creating chaos, resulting in the suspension of the event. Players were taken back to the soccer association's headquarters by helicopter and subsequently went home.

ARG/USD chart by TradingView

Earlier in the tournament, the Argentine fan token crashed 23% following a shock defeat to Saudi Arabia. The token was changing hands for around $5 after Argentina secured its spot in the final. It was $7.20 before kick-off.

Argentina is only one of two international teams — along with Portugal — to offer fan tokens. Portugal's token is down to about $1.20 as of Dec. 20. Cristiano Ronaldo's team was sent home after a surprise defeat to Morocco in the quarter-finals.

As for NFTs, soccer trading cards dominated sales on the NFT-based gaming platform Sorare, bringing in more than $503,000 in sales from 4,435 buyers on Dec. 18, according to the NFT data tracker CryptoSlam. Unlike fan tokens, however, Sorare sales would rise 6.42% following Argentina's World Cup win.