EX Sports has carried out the pre-launch of a series of digital sports collectibles featuring football legend Diego Maradona in partnership with CV Labs and the World Football Collection. Starting October 30th, ten NFTs for Diego Maradona connected to World Soccer Treasure items from the Maradona estate will be pre-launched in conjunction with an exhibition at the DMCC Crypto Center. Bidding for Maradona “Platinum NFTs” — the first three of these collectibles — will open at 8PM Dubai time (GMT+4).
The winners will receive the NFTs and their corresponding memorabilia, which include Maradona’s uniforms and other items. The remaining limited-edition “Gold NFT” collectibles, which are entirely digital, will be offered throughout the month of November on the EX Sports marketplace and our partner platforms that will be revealed in the coming weeks. During the exhibition, German artist Hans Ulrich Pauly will create a painting celebrating Maradona’s life. To demonstrate how NFTs are made, the painting will be tokenized and fractionalized into 1,960 digital assets that will be offered individually. 4ArtTechnologies, our strategic partner with proven expertise in arts, technology, and NFTs, provided the turnkey fractionalization solution used to create these assets.
Honoring Maradona’s Life and Legacy Though Diego Maradona passed away in 2020, his legacy as one of the greatest athletes in football history lives on. He was named FIFA’s Player of the Century after his retirement in 1997, and holds numerous records including 152 free kicks across his four World Cups — the most in tournament history. Every aspect of the Maradona NFT Exhibition has been designed to honor the sporting legend. “There’s a story behind every memorabilia item and detail around the exhibition,” said Toli Makris, CEO of EX Sports. “The ten exclusive items represent Maradona’s player number, and the fractional ownership of the painting’s 1,960 pieces signify the year 1960, the year Maradona was born.” The starting date of the Exhibition, October 30th, is Maradona’s birthday.
EX Sports’s mission is to provide athletes with a way to issue digital collectibles themselves, paving the way for closer relationships with their fans. In parallel, fans get a new way to engage with their favorite sports stars. Our collaboration with the Maradona estate is an example of this mission in action. In addition to honoring his life and achievements, these ten NFTs provide fans with a new, unique way to connect with the football legend himself.
