The Argentina Football Association (AFA) has rebranded the country’s top-flight football competition as part of an extended partnership with creators of Fan Tokens and the Socios.com fan engagement platform, Chiliz.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Primera División – the first association football league formed outside of the United Kingdom in 1891 – will be renamed as the Torneo Socios.com for the 2021/22 season. 

The competition, which is organised by AFA, will resume on 16 July under its new title as defending champions Boca Juniors travel to Santa Fe to face Club Atlético Unión.

The new deal builds on the partnership between AFA and Chiliz announced in May that led to the Argentina men’s soccer team becoming the first national team in the world to launch a Fan Token on Socios.com. The newly crowned Copa América champions officially launched their Fan Token on 11 June.

AFA President, Claudio Tapia, stated: “We are very happy to kick-off this journey with Socios.com. It is a very important agreement, since it’s the first time the Argentinian league partners with a commercial brand to rename the tournament.

“We’ve been partners of Socios.com for some time now with the Argentinian National Team. This new agreement will strengthen our relationship and have a very positive impact on both parties. Argentinian football must continue to grow, increasing its audience and global visibility.

“To achieve this growth, it’s important that we partner with global leading brands willing to work shoulder to shoulder with AFA in the same direction. We warmly welcome Socios.com to the Argentinian league.”

The direct-to-consumer platform, which leverages blockchain technology to monetise sporting organisations’ global fanbases, has generated over $150 million in revenues to be shared with Socios.com partners in 2021 alone. 

Partners include European footballing giants FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus, AC Milan, Atlético Madrid, Manchester City, Valencia and the Portugal national team, as well as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and a number of teams from Formula One, esports and cricket.

The company is also growing its presence in the US market, with New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL) and National Basketball Association (NBA) giants the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics the first major franchises to get on board. 

Furthermore, CA Independiente is the only Argentina-based domestic club to partner with Socios.com so far, whilst SC Corinthians and Atlético Mineiro of Brazil’s Campeonato Serie A and Universidad de Chile of Chile’s Primera División are the other South American teams which have partnered with Socios.com.

“Today’s announcement is a major statement of our intent to establish Socios.com as the global brand name for digital fan engagement, increasing our visibility throughout Argentina and LatAm exponentially,” added Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO of Chiliz and Socios.com.

“There will be immense pride when the first-ever Torneo Socios.com league season begins tomorrow evening. We look forward to building on this huge milestone, adding more partners across Argentina, LatAm and continuing our mission to lead a new era of global fan engagement.”