PSG soccer club, Drop CEO collaborate on AI-generated NFT posters

Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) has partnered with Drop co-founder and CEO Benjamin Benichou to create a series of non-fungible token (NFT) posters.

The French soccer giant on Sept. 21 announced a partnership with Benichou, a Los Angeles-based artificial intelligence (AI) artist and co-founder of social commercial platform Drop, to create a series of matchday NFTs.

The NFTs will take the form of match posters depicting many of PSG’s historic moments and will be available exclusively on Crypto.com’s NFT platform. 

According to the club, the series will comprise 1,970 AI-assisted artworks, with seven set to become official match posters for seven crucial matches during the 2023-2024 season.

The NFTs will be freely distributed to eligible Crypto.com users on the respective matchdays. Holders will also get the chance to win an assortment of prizes, including signed shirts from PSG players and physical prints of the original artwork.

According to PSG brand director Fabien Allègre, the partnership with Benichou and Crypto.com will allow the club and its fans to understand AI and its possibilities better.

“We are delighted with this first experience, the result is impressive. This collaboration with Benjamin Benichou allowed us to better understand this new tool, which, when put at the service of creation, opens up an unimaginable field of possibilities.”

Fabien Allègre, Brand Director, PSG

PSG has a previous history with crypto and NFTs. Three years ago, it launched a Socios-powered Android app to enable fans to earn tokens by engaging with the club. The tokens allowed their holders to vote on specific issues affecting the football club.

In 2021, news reports claimed that one of PSG’s most decorated players, Lionel Messi, who now plies his trade at Inter Miami CF, would receive part of his wages in crypto.   

However, the French club’s latest foray into NFTs comes on the back of a recent dappGambl report claiming that nearly 95% of all non-fungible token collections have no value. The report analyzed 73,267 collections, of which 69,795, held by about 23 million people, were virtually worthless, with market caps of 0 ETH.

Additionally, the report indicated that only 21% of NFT collections had full ownership, meaning 79% remained unsold.