Switzerland’s gambling watchdog, GESPA, has lodged a criminal complaint regarding FIFA’s World Cup-themed NFT platform, citing potential breaches of national gambling laws.
The Zurich-based authority flagged FIFA Collect, an online platform hosting NFT-based competitions, drops, and challenges, after reviewing its operations in early October.
Participation requires monetary stakes, and prizes are awarded based on random draws or similar chance-based mechanisms, prompting GESPA to classify the offerings as unlicensed gambling, including both lotteries and sports betting.
Under Swiss law, such activities require proper licensing. By notifying prosecutors, GESPA has initiated a process to determine whether FIFA may face criminal liability. FIFA has not yet commented publicly on the matter.
FIFA’s NFT initiative originally launched on Algorand ahead of the 2022 World Cup and later moved to Polygon in 2023. The platform allows fans to collect digital mementos of historic football moments, with some competitions offering early adopters the chance to win tickets to the 2026 World Cup.
The organization also plans to migrate its NFTs to a new EVM-compatible blockchain, dubbed the FIFA Blockchain, built on Avalanche technology. FIFA has described these digital collectibles as a way to democratize access to World Cup memorabilia for fans worldwide.
