Sorare: A beginner's guide to the crypto-based fantasy football game

What is Sorare? 

Sorare is an online fantasy soccer game with a cryptocurrency twist. Players use nonfungible tokens (NFTs) to purchase, own and resell collectible digital cards. As with traditional fantasy soccer, players build their lineup every week.

Points are awarded in-game based on professional soccer stars' on-the-pitch stats. The weekly goal is to beat other users within the leagues by getting the most points.

NFTs provide Sorare with an extra dimension as they can be traded outside of the game on marketplaces like Opensea and Rarible. So, if you have a card in demand, you could make some serious profits.

With licensed players from over 200 teams, gamers can choose from digital trading cards featuring AC Milan, Juventus, Liverpool FC, Real Madrid, the Paris Saint-Germain FC, J.League teams (Japan), La Liga (Spain) and Major League Soccer.

Fantasy sports is a hot global industry, with a projected market size of $48.6 billion by 2027. NFT games like Sorare are quickly gaining popularity due to their potential to disrupt the landscape with an innovative business model. 

This article will deep dive into how Sorare works as well as how you play and earn money through this fantasy soccer game. 

How does Sorare work?

While still primarily a fantasy soccer game at its core, Sorare offers a different kind of experience. Instead of selecting player names from a list during the draft, users buy digital trading cards tokenized on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain.

These nonfungible token cards are owned by players who are free to sell them as crypto-collectibles. The NFT cards are also the center of Sorare's narrative. There are crypto prizes to be won as well as unique and rare cards.

Sorare allows users to sign up for different leagues, such as the Rookie, Under 23 and Regional Leagues. Each player can set a new lineup every play week using the cards they currently possess.

At the end of the week, points are tallied based on how the actual soccer players performed in real life. Sorare users with the highest points are eligible to win special rewards like rare cards and Ethereum tokens.

What makes Sorare so unique?

Sorare combines fantasy sports games, soccer, sports collectibles and crypto nonfungible tokens. It has yet to be matched by any previous experience.

The NBA Top Shot series is Sorare's most popular crypto NFT collectibles contemporary. However, aside from personal collection-based competitions, there isn't a real “game” element to the basketball nonfungible token series.

And even if Sorare has a pay-to-win component, it offers genuine, fantasy-style competition. There are also real advantages as well as the promise of victory for those who don't mind paying actual money to build the best team.

Plus, the game has official licenses from multiple global soccer leagues. This allows for the use of real team names, player photos and card art from some of the world's most popular soccer clubs.

Sorare is currently the only fantasy soccer game with the extent of widespread licensing, which gives it a significant competitive advantage.

Why should soccer fans play Sorare?

The game offers several benefits to both casual and hardcore soccer enthusiasts. For one, virtual tournaments are a great way to stay engaged with your favorite teams even when there isn't an actual game going on. You can also follow other users' teams and see how they perform relative to your own.

Sorare offers a way to make money by trading and selling cards on third-party marketplaces like Opensea and Rarible. So, if you're good at building teams, you could potentially turn a profit from your hobby.

Finally, Sorare is a great venue in which to meet and connect with other soccer fans worldwide. This game maintains an active community on Discord, Twitter and other social media platforms.

Can you play Sorare on mobile? Definitely! Simply download the Sorare app and log in or create an account.

How do you play Sorare?

With just a few easy steps, even newbies can get the hang of the game right away.

Create an account and collect cards

Is Sorare free to play? Yes! To unlock up to 12 free “Common” player cards, register on the Sorare website and follow the instructions.

Once you've signed up, the process is pretty straightforward. To get your account set up:

1. Choose a club logo and name.

2. Join the Casual League.

3. Select your top three favorite clubs (your free players will be drawn at random and assigned to you).

In the beginning, since you’re playing with free cards, you'll be able to participate only in the Casual League. If you want to join other tournaments where you can win rare cards and rewards in ETH, you must purchase at least five rare cards. These are available in the Sorare store and on the many third-party marketplaces that support the game.

Participate in tournaments

Once you've joined the Casual League, you can participate in weekly tournaments to earn points and rewards. Select “Join Your First League” to access tutorials on navigating the game. It’s a Sorare beginner’s guide that will give you a basic understanding of how SO5 League games work and how to earn points.

Don't worry about understanding the league system early on — it might be too much to take in at once. The Casual League will teach you everything you need to know about the game before moving to more challenging tournaments.

You'll also have enough time to gather cards while playing in the Casual League, which you can use later in more rewarding leagues as the game progresses.

Build a team

Now, it's time to build your team. Pick players that play often since you won't earn any points from those on the bench for the entire game. The same goes for players who aren't on your team.

For your guidance, the interface provides a list of the best-rated players with their corresponding average ratings. You should pick the ones with a high average rating —  shown next to each player's card on the left side of the screen.

When no opposing teams appear next to a player, and instead it says “NG,” it means that the player has no game scheduled for the coming game week. Thus, he will earn zero points if drafted to your team.

Each team must consist of five players, the Sorare5 or SO5:

To form your squad, select the players you want to assign to each position until all the slots are taken. Take note that the “Extra” slot is not meant for a substitute but rather as a fill-in for another position on the team. 

It's possible to score points from your squad of players by filling this position with a defender, a midfielder, or a forward, with options on how to do so. You can shuffle your team afterward, depending on who you think will score well during the game.

Next, select your team's captain. Choose one with care since that player is eligible to score an extra 20% bonus points in a game week. Click the “C” icon on the top-left portion of your desired captain's card. Remember to pick one before hitting the “Confirm” button, as your team won't go through to the next step without it.

When you’re satisfied with your lineup, click “Confirm” to finalize your team. Now that you have your team, it's time to start playing Sorare! Overall, the onboarding procedure is pretty basic and teaches you the rudiments. It then drops you into the Market so that you can buy premium Sorare NFT cards tokenized on the Ethereum blockchain.


The “New Cards” section allows you to bid on new cards added to the game. On the other hand, a “Transfer Market” is where users sell their cards at a fixed price — often substantially higher than when originally released.

To know more about Sorare gameplay, check out the “Game” section under “Help.” Or watch tutorials on YouTube to get acquainted with the game before diving in.

Earn money through cards

Compared to traditional digital games, collectible card games are more similar to real-life trading cards. In the traditional version, you may acquire and utilize in-game goods but not own them.

With NFTs, you own the items you get, much like if you were collecting physical cards. Your Sorare cards cannot be duplicated or taken from you, thanks to blockchain technology. Let's have a look at the details on a Sorare card:

All this information is based on the time of minting. The first thing you'll want to do is choose a card that you think will perform well and rise in value. When buying a card, you'll also notice various rarities, which we'll go through in the next section.

Different types of cards

Player cards on Sorare are sorted by colors and levels of rarity. That is, a limited number per color is minted. When you buy cards, you own them as NFTs. There are four degrees of scarcity for Sorare cards:

Limited Yellow

For each season, 1000 copies of every player are minted as Limited cards.

Rare Red

Rare cards have 100 copies per player minted every season.

Super Rare Blue

Only 10 copies of Super Rare cards per player are minted per season. They are highly collectible and sought after.

Unique Black/Brown

With only 1 card minted per player per season, Unique cards are the most powerful and the most expensive. They are highly sought after by collectors.

Common cards (Gray) are the ones you use in tournaments early on. They are viable even as you progress in the game but are not NFTs.

Auction the cards

As mentioned above, you can also sell your cards. If you're lucky, a card you may have held onto for a while could have increased in value and may fetch you a large sum of money. For example, one of the highest-selling Sorare cards was a Unique card of Cristiano Ronaldo, sold in 2021 for $290,000.

Here's how you can start selling Sorare NFT cards:

Your card will then be available for purchase in the next 48 hours. If it does not sell by the time your listing expires, it remains in your gallery. But when it’s sold, you’ll get an in-game email alert. The card will be removed from your gallery and any future SO5 competitions.

The future of Sorare

Sorare is still a young company, but it has already managed to partner with some of the biggest names in the soccer world. The number of available teams is expected to grow as Sorare continues to sign new partnerships. With new teams comes an increased demand for cards, which, in turn, drives up the value of existing cards.

In addition, Sorare has partnered with big names in the gaming and sports industry, such as Ubisoft, Serena Williams and Major League Baseball. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities for Sorare card owners to discover more exciting uses for their cards.