Crypto.com and Fanatics Collectibles have created what they describe as a 'world first' sponsor activation by embedding the official UEFA Champions League Final match coin into a one-of-one Topps trading card. According to reports from Crypto.com, the official physical Crypto.com Match Coin used by the referee to start the final at the Puskás Aréna was flown into Budapest's Puskás Aréna by drone and unveiled by UEFA ambassador Ashley Cole before being used by the referee to kick off the 2026 Champions League Final. As part of the initiative, the physical Match Coin will be embedded into a one-of-one premium Topps Now '
The embedded match coin will be authenticated on the Cronos blockchain as a digital collectible, serving as an access key for the 2026 to 2027 season. As reported by Crypto.com, the token provides access to UEFA Super Cup Final tickets, a League Phase pass to all eight games of a chosen club, and the right to deliver the Match Coin at that club's first home game. Topps will release a corresponding base card on Topps.com shortly after the final, with a single buyer selected at random to receive the Relic card containing the embedded coin. According to Nicholas Christ, Global Head of Sponsorships at Crypto.com, the collaboration with Topps merges one of football's most iconic pre-match rituals with digital-era collecting and fan engagement, uniting two groups of sport fans – those who collect NFTs and those who collect trading cards. "This exclusive activation with Topps is allowing us to combine an iconic match day ritual, the coin toss, with modern fandom and an opportunity to own a piece of history," said Nicholas Christ. "By tokenising the physical coin we're uniting two groups of sport fans - ones who collect NFTs and those who collect trading cards - all the while proving how this real-world tokenisation use case can ultimately become an investment asset on the blockchain."
This Budapest activation concludes a season-long Crypto.com Match Coin campaign that has run across 189 Champions League fixtures. According to Crypto.com, selected fans have already claimed digital coin collectibles that enter them into prize draws for VIP experiences, including pitch-side access and the chance to hand over the official Match Coin to the referee. The wider Champions Collection has distributed silver and gold digital coins that either grant First Class match tickets or hospitality packages, with gold editions as scarce as 16 to 72 units at certain knockout and league phases.
UE signed Crypto.com as the first and exclusive global cryptocurrency platform partner of the Champions League for the 2024 to 2027 commercial cycle, giving the exchange long-term rights to experiment with digital collectibles around Europe's most watched club competition. As reported by Crypto.com, this deal sits alongside the exchange's broader Cronos strategy, which includes a planned multi-billion dollar CRO treasury vehicle with Trump Media and new investment products such as the Canary CRO Trust for U.S. investors.
Crypto firms have signed at least 33 football sponsorship deals since 2021, with total sports spending of around $565 million in that period. According to Crypto.com, the exchange has emerged as one of the biggest spenders across properties such as Formula 1 and UEFA tournaments, while other exchanges including Binance and WhiteBIT have followed similar strategies by tying sponsorships to NFT drops and sleeve deals with major clubs. Cronos's native token CRO last traded below its November 2021 peak of $0.9698, with recent forecasts suggesting trading in a band between roughly $0.28 and $0.60 in coming years.
