The top-tier Italian football club AC Milan is following in the footsteps of its counterparts with the launch of the first-ever NFT collection. But, unlike others, AC Milan's pioneer collection is of a charitable nature. The NFTs by the club will fund their charity arm named Fondazione Milan.
The total edition of 75,817 NFTs was chosen not in vain, as this number represents the capacity of AC Milan's San Siro home stadium.
The story behind the drop deserves special attention. The animated 3D image of a Rossoneri jersey, brought from South Sudan, is a torn jersey from the 2016/17 season discovered by Jan Grarup. The Danish war photographer found it during a trip to South Sudan to document the effects of the severe floods in the country. The repeatedly repaired and stitched together jersey was being worn by a local boy, who later donated it to the football club in exchange for a new one.
AC Milan had put the jersey on display in the Mondo Milan Museum at Casa Milan – the Rossoneri’s HQ as part of the new exhibition dedicated to urgent social projects and education by Fondazione Milan.
The torn jersey, which was turned into a bunch of NFTs, aims to support the club charitable fund's fundraising initiatives across the globe, including providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
The collection was created on Fansea, AC Milan’s NFT marketplace. The whole of 75,817 NFTs, priced at €45 will be available for purchase from April 14th until April 19th.
It's noteworthy that the advanced Bitcoin trading platform BitMEX partnered with AC Milan to contribute to the project by providing trading discounts and some other perks to the first 10K pre-orders. Besides, BitMEX will make its charitable contribution by purchasing a big lump of NFTs from AC Milan's collection.
In addition to providing humanitarian aid to the Ukrainian people struck by the Russian war, the club promises to also fund the UNICEF project in South Sudan.
