England’s World Cup debut against Croatia puts FIFA’s crypto partnerships in the spotlight

England arrived at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on June 17 for their opening World Cup match against Croatia, a rematch of the 2018 semifinal that still stings for Three Lions supporters. Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, and the rest of the squad are stepping onto a stage that looks very different from four years ago, and not just because there are now 48 teams in the draw.

FIFA’s blockchain buildout

Kraken was announced as the Official Crypto Exchange Supporter of the 2026 World Cup on June 9. That makes the San Francisco-based exchange one of FIFA’s headline commercial partners for a tournament being hosted across 16 cities in the US, Mexico, and Canada.

Avalanche, meanwhile, underpins FIFA’s ticketing infrastructure and its digital collectibles platform, FIFA Collect, targeting the perennial problem of ticket fraud and scalping. Instead of just slapping a logo on the broadcast, Avalanche is actually embedded in the plumbing of how the tournament operates.

The fan token gap

England’s World Cup campaign has a notable crypto dimension: the Three Lions don’t have an official fan token on Chiliz’s Socios.com platform. Argentina has $ARG. Portugal has $POR. Belgium has $BEL. England has nothing.

Fan tokens on Chiliz allow holders to participate in polls, earn rewards, and access exclusive content tied to their national team. A new “Burn to Glory” mechanic has been introduced for participating nations this tournament cycle, adding a deflationary twist where tokens are burned based on team performance.

The absence of an England token means CHZ, the native token of the Chiliz ecosystem, doesn’t get the demand boost that would come from one of the world’s largest football fanbases piling in. Traders looking at CHZ should factor in that the token’s World Cup tailwinds are coming primarily from South American and European nations that have already tokenized their fanbases.

What this means for investors

AVAX stands to benefit most directly from verifiable on-chain activity. Every ticket scanned, every digital collectible minted on FIFA Collect, adds to the network’s usage metrics.

The fan token market around Chiliz is more speculative and more volatile. Tokens tied to teams that advance through the group stage historically see price bumps, while early eliminations tend to produce sharp selloffs. With the “Burn to Glory” mechanic adding a deflationary pressure tied to match results, the token dynamics this tournament are more complex than in previous cycles.

England’s match against Croatia, with reports indicating Kane converted a retaken penalty to give the Three Lions a 1-0 halftime lead, is exactly the kind of high-profile result that would normally send a fan token surging. Instead, that energy has nowhere to go within the Chiliz ecosystem.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.