Britain's National Crime Agency has frozen more than $13.6 million paid to the Premier League by crypto fantasy-football company Sorare, as it probes possible links between the money and criminal activity. The freeze covers the first payment of a since-expired four-year sponsorship deal, and lands as Sorare separately fights a gambling prosecution due for trial in 2027.
A frozen sponsorship payment
Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) has frozen more than $13.6 million (£10,024,041.33) sitting in a Barclays account held by the Premier League, as it investigates the crypto company that paid it, UK paper The Sun reported. The agency obtained the order from Westminster magistrates' court in January 2025 under the Proceeds of Crime Act, covering funds held in the name of The Football Association Premier League Limited. A spokesperson said its purpose is to prevent the funds from dissipating while the agency examines any potential links to third-party criminality.
The money was the first payment under a four-year sponsorship the Premier League and Sorare announced in January 2023. Neither side disclosed its value, though it was reported at the time at roughly $41 million (£30 million) a year, or $163 million (£120 million) across the full term. The deal let Sorare issue digital cards of players from all 20 clubs, paying clubs based on how often their cards were used, and it ended after the 2025-26 season.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the Premier League, which declined to comment to The Sun. The league is due in court to seek a variation of the order, which runs to September 14, and its most recent accounts, to July 31, 2025, show reserves above $2 billion (£1.5 billion).
A gambling case running in parallel
Sorare began in 2018 as a crypto-only marketplace where players traded cards using Ethereum or Solana, before adding cash payments in August 2023. The Premier League valued the company at $4.3 billion (£3.21 billion), a figure dating to its 2021 SoftBank-led funding round.
Yet whether Sorare's game amounts to gambling is already before a separate court. The UK's Gambling Commission charged the company in September 2024 with providing gambling facilities without an operating licence, its first action against a blockchain-based platform, and trial is now listed for June 2027. Sorare firmly denies the charge, arguing the regulator has misunderstood its business and that the game rewards skill rather than chance.
The Financial Conduct Authority has separately warned clubs about such tie-ups. Writing to Premier League clubs in June, the regulator's director of consumer investments, Lucy Castledine, cautioned that unauthorised financial firms should not be allowed to exploit fans' trust in their clubs' badges. According to Decrypt: "Millions of football fans trust their club's badge".
Source: Decrypt
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