Football club AC Milan has announced that it has reached an agreement with BitMEX to become the club’s first Official Sleeve Partner.
The news was confirmed via the club’s official website and marks the start of the sponsorship with one of the world’s leading crypto derivatives platforms. It is a multi-year partnership that will also see BitMEX become the first Official Cryptocurrency Trading Partner of the Italian Rossoneri team.
The BitMEX brand will be featured on the sleeve of the men’s and women’s team’s shirts in all competitions, including the UEFA Champions League, and on the sleeve of Milan’s eSports team, representing the brand’s focus on innovation, progress and inclusion.
The partnership also marks BitMEX’s debut in the world of football, with the logo being featured on the club’s shirt on 23 August, when Milan will face Sampdoria in Genoa in the first day of Serie A 2021/22.
BitMEX is a cryptocurrency exchange with operational characteristics that are very different from the vast majority of online exchanges. It has brought innovation to the industry by expanding the traditional futures offering by introducing the Perpetual Swap, the most traded crypto derivative of all time.
BitMEX sleeve sponsor of AC Milan
Sleeve sponsorship is turning into an innovative marketing tool: technically they are called “sleeve sponsors” and in Germany, they have been very successful in the traditional supply and demand match.
In Italy, on the other hand, only 6 out of 20 teams have tested sleeve sponsorship. These new forms of revenue are becoming more and more essential for the economic sustainability of small and medium-sized clubs or to continue to dream in the case of top teams.
Moreover, the world of crypto is also emerging as an important resource for football and other traditional sports. From next season, in addition to AC Milan, there will be two new main sponsors operating in this sector on the shirts of Inter and Roma: Socios.com, a platform powered by the digital currency Chiliz that allows fans of football teams to actively interact with their favourite clubs through digital resources known as Fan Tokens, and for Roma DigitalBits, a company active in the open source blockchain business that deals primarily with cryptocurrencies.
The collaboration will help strengthen the brand awareness of both companies, creating new opportunities for business growth. For BitMEX, the printing of the logo is a great marketing strategy that will give visibility to the company through the millions of football fans around the world.
For AC Milan, on the other hand, its growing fanbase will be able to access the BitMEX platform and benefit from exclusive offers designed specifically for the club’s members.
Alexander Höptner, CEO of BitMEX, said:
“AC Milan is one of the most progressive football clubs in the world and, along with its rich footballing heritage, boasts extraordinary reach and engagement with fans around the world. We felt at home when we first started talking to the Club and we can’t wait to start interacting with the entire Rossoneri family.”
The Fan Engagement initiatives of recent months have allowed football clubs to have a positive first approach to the market and make themselves recognizable to a new digital audience.
The fan is increasingly at the centre of the clubs’ decision-making dynamics. For example, through fan tokens they can take part in marketing-related decisions, from stadium designs, celebratory anthems, inspirational mottos, player challenges, exclusive shirt designs and much more.
This shows how gamification, implemented by crypto platforms using blockchain technology, is a key component of fan engagement in the sports industry.