WHITEPAPER

1. INTRODUCTION

“Just football”. It's a phrase often used by the critics of the sports devoted, if not fanatical, following. Fans are at the axis of the sports and entertainment industry, and yet increasingly their interests have been ignored.

In recent years, the top leagues of the sport have been influenced by various stakeholders that use football as a vehicle to achieve their goals. These factors have caused inflation in all aspects of the game, and not always for reasons related to the business of football.

Fans have no way to influence the decisions and future of the teams they love. Web 3 technology and blockchain challenges this norm, allowing fans to make a real impact.

2. VISION

Noname Club is a project that manages the ownership and governance of a sports team through the blockchain, using a DAO (Descentral Autonomous Organization), with the aim of focusing on what drives this industry: the fans. Fans not only as mere spectators, but as true protagonists of the club's future, with a real capacity to participate in decision-making.

The club will compete in soccer competitions held in Spain, the epicenter of the soccer industry, in the city of Zamora (Castilla y León) with the eventual goal of competing in the country’s LaLiga (The league). The club was founded without a name, without a logo, without a visual identity and without any commitment to the town of origin, so that all these decisions, among others, can be made by the fans themselves.

A few years ago this could never have been possible due to organizational, operational and structural realities of the soccer industry and its fanbase. However, with the advancement of blockchain technology and Web 3, now we have the tools to fundamentally change the power dynamic in sports. Noname Club will be the first team to challenge the status quo and truly function as an independent team.

3. PURPOSE

Team owners, players, the media and fans are the four key stakeholders in sports. But when it comes to the business impact of a sport or competition fans are the driving force. The fans are a crucial force in the equation when talking about the business impact of a sport and competition.

The ability of fans to influence sports has increased considerably thanks to advances in technology. The internet, social networks and sports media have allowed fans to have a greater voice. But now with the advent of blockchain technology fans have the opportunity to gain even more power and influence over their favorite teams.

Blockchain technology can help fans influence the decisions of the teams: The ecosystem that Web 3 is creating allows individuals to associate and organize themselves in a simple and scalable way, and thanks to this tool it is now possible to develop a complete Noname Club governance system.

Noname Club is building a grassroots model. However, current teams could adapt to apply this model as well. Participation in Noname Club doesn't rule out your future access to established sports organizations with minority or majority participation, offering all the advantages of Web3.

In addition to the ability to organize the club's governance through the blockchain, Web3 presents many other advantages that Noname Club will be able to take advantage of such as: fans without borders or create new revenue streams. Any football fan, regardless of their geographical location, will be able to support and follow the day-to-day life of Noname Club, as well as get involved first-hand in the project. Traditionally tickets sales, sponsorships and TV rights are the main revenue source. But Noname club, using blockchain technology will create new ways to generate revenue for the team and its fans. Noname club will democratize the process of being a club owner.

4. DISTRIBUTION OF TOKENS AND OPERATION OF THE DAO

Noname Club will have 100.000.000 (one hundred million) of tokens. The initial distribution of these tokens will be as follows:

90,000,000 (ninety million) will remain in the possession of the DAO (Decentral Autonomous Organization), to be distributed in the future. They will be used to carry out capital increase rounds, decided by the members of the DAO, in order to obtain financing for the club.
5,000,000 (five million) will be distributed among the initial capitalist partners, in exchange for a contribution of €50,000, used for the foundation of the club and to carry out the first months of operation.
5,000,000 (five million) will be sold at the initial price (approximately) of €0.01/token (0,0000049 ETH) during the month of March 2024 (we say approximately because the sell will be in ETH and the prize can have small changes). Each owner of the club's first NFT collection will have the right to purchase Noname club tokens in advance.This advance purchase period will last 15 days and owners can purchase up to 10,000 tokens per NFT. After 15 days, the remaining tokens will be available for purchase publicly.

Club members will have the right to make various decisions about the team.

Examples of decisions to be made by Noname Club DAO members:

Visual identity
Club uniforms
Governance, financial and operational structure
Club executives, management board
Club location
Stadium: both where to play and whether the stadium is built, bought or rented
Outsourcing of key services
Sponsorships or other strategic marketing actions

Examples of decisions that Noname Club DAO members will not make:

Players to sign, renew, sell and/or fire
Call-ups, lineups, player substitutions during matches
Day-to-day operational decisions of the club, for which there will be dedicated staff

5. CONCLUSION

The current sports governance systems aren’t currently building ways to innovate for the future. The Noname club adds possibilities to the traditional model, building ownership of sports teams by fans. The use of blockchain technology in sports governance is the future.

Football is the global king of sports with the largest, most passionate worldwide fan base. True football fans understand the opportunities Noname club provides. That’s JUST FOOTBALL.

FAQ:

Why football?

This beautiful sport is the world’s most democratic. In football, your social origin does not matter. Players from all walks of life train together, from those who attend the best sports academies to those of more humble origins, who grew up playing in the streets. This has allowed football to become the most consumed and practiced sport globally.

Why not choose to join an existing sports team to invest in?

Investing in an existing sports team has the advantage of providing an established base of fans, however the process is complicated. Also, football clubs with a large fan base often carry large debts or hidden financial issues.

Furthermore, most teams don’t have expertise or knowledge of blockchain and Web 3 and are not equipped to manage the investments responsibility.

So we created the Noname club from the ground up. Starting from the lowest division allows the team to compete and creates a fan base who feel invested and believe in the club's approach and values.

Why in Spain?

Spain is clearly a leader in football at a business level and we’ve seen a greater window of opportunity to change the way sports entities are governed. In recent years, established teams have been strongly influenced (both positively and negatively) by the ownership of the teams irrespective of fan involvement. We think it's the right time to disrupt the current investment structure and bring the opportunity to the fans.

Why in Zamora (city located in Spain)?

Once I decided on the country and that the project was going to start a club from scratch, I had to find a location. In Spain, depending on the region, there are a greater or lesser number of divisions to reach the first regional competition, the Third Federation, originally known as Third Division RFEF (fifth category). The process is easier in less populated regions such as Castilla y León, where there are only two divisions (one provincial and one regional) below the aforementioned Third Federation. It should also be noted that the promoters of this project have their origins in this town, and it is another important reason why the Noname club was born in Zamora.

*Relevant note: take into consideration that this is a translation of the original version, which is the spanish one.