Malaysian player Safee Sali launches his collection of NFTs
It's not news that the world of sports is merging with the world of cryptocurrencies and NFTs, what happens is that clubs and athletes are realizing how profitable this can be and, of course, they don't want to be left behind. Safe Sali is a soccer player from Malaysia, quite famous by the way, and if you don't know him, here you will find a brief summary of his history.
The 38-year-old has played for Malaysia 76 times and is considered the country's all-time leading goalscorer in the AFF Championship with nine goals. Safee Sali plays for Malaysian super league club Kuala Lumpur City as a striker and played for the Malaysia national team until his retirement in 2017.
Last week, on June 22, Wednesday, striker Sali launched his series of NFTs, called TEN, which is number 10 in Malay but mostly also known as his current shirt number. And as you might have guessed, the series is also comprised of 10 limited edition collectibles and went up for auction on OpenSea, a well-known trading platform in the cryptocurrency and NFT market.
The collection TEN, by Safee Sali, was released in collaboration with Prime Sports NFT, an NFT sports division of Prime Sports International.
And according to an article by The Star, Safee Sali said he was interested in exploring the digital world during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period.
"My vision for SEPULUH is to capture my dearest memory with the Harimau Malaya shirt through digital art and allow fans to own a piece of my history as a collectible.”, he commented during the launch of his collection.
The Malaysian Professional Footballers Association (PFAM), of which Safee Sali is a part as chairman, also plays a role in the NFTs"TEN".
A portion of the auction proceeds from Safee's collection will be donated to promote and also protect the interest of all professional football players in Malaysia.
The NFTs were designed by a 20 year old artist from Penang, Nicholas Chuan🇧🇷 Although this was his first time working on a collaborative NFT project, he has worked with many other recognizable names in the past, including Liverpool, Red Bull, UEFA , and more.
He posted on his Twitter account that Safee Sali is his childhood hero and also shared screenshots from the player collection launch event.
According to the description of the NFTs on OpenSea, the NFTs “SEPULUH” celebrates Safee Sali's historic goal in the semi-final match of the AFF Suzuki Cup 2010 against Vietnam. Similar to a card, NFT is also signed by Safee.
In addition to the art, NFT holders will also enjoy exclusive benefits, such as an exclusive opportunity to share the pitch with Safe Sali.
The auction ends on July 11th, so if you're a fan, there's still time if you're hoping to play football with the legendary footballer.