Britain’s National Crime Agency has frozen 13.6 million USD, equivalent to just over 10 million GBP, held in a Premier League bank account as part of an investigation connected to Sorare, the crypto fantasy soccer card game, according to a report by UK tabloid The Sun.
The frozen funds represent the opening instalment of a four-year sponsorship deal between the Premier League and Sorare, the blockchain-based fantasy game in which players collect digital player cards and field squads whose performance tracks real-world football results. The case places one of Web3 gaming’s best-known brands at the center of an escalating UK regulatory showdown.
Inside the freezing order
The NCA obtained the order from Westminster magistrates’ court in January 2025 under the Proceeds of Crime Act, covering money held in a Barclays account in the name of The Football Association Premier League Limited. A spokesperson said the order is designed to prevent dissipation of the funds while the agency investigates any potential links between the money and alleged third-party criminality.
The order runs until September 14, and the Premier League is due in court to seek a variation. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the Premier League itself, which declined to comment. The league’s most recent accounts show reserves above 1.5 billion GBP.
The sponsorship, announced in January 2023, was reported at the time to be worth roughly 41 million USD per year, or about 163 million USD over the full term. It granted Sorare the right to issue officially licensed digital cards of players from all 20 Premier League clubs, with clubs compensated according to how often their cards were used in the game. The arrangement concluded at the end of the 2025-26 season.
Sorare pushes back
A Sorare spokesperson told Decrypt that the company is not under investigation by the NCA, that the Gambling Commission prosecution is a separate and ongoing matter, and that the freezing order concerns funds held in an account that does not belong to Sorare. The firm also alleged factual inaccuracies in The Sun’s reporting and said the Premier League contract expired naturally at the end of its term rather than being terminated because of any investigation.
The gambling prosecution at the heart of the affair
The freezing order exists alongside a parallel criminal case that could define how blockchain gaming platforms are treated under UK law. In September 2024, the UK Gambling Commission charged Sorare with providing facilities for gambling without an operating licence, contrary to the Gambling Act 2005, following an investigation that began in 2021. It was the regulator’s first prosecution of a blockchain-based platform.
Sorare entered three not-guilty pleas at Birmingham magistrates’ court in October 2024, one for each count. The trial is now listed for June 2027, having been pushed back from its original 2026 date. The company firmly denies that its product constitutes gambling under UK law and says it will continue to defend its position in court.
The stakes extend well beyond one company. Sorare, founded in 2018, began as a crypto-only marketplace where users traded NFT player cards using Ethereum and later Solana, adding cash payments in August 2023. Its investor and ambassador roster includes Lionel Messi, Zinedine Zidane, Kylian Mbappe, Rio Ferdinand and Serena Williams, and its valuation peaked at 4.3 billion USD during a SoftBank-led funding round in 2021. A guilty verdict could force fantasy platforms with NFT-based economies to restructure their UK operations or exit the market entirely.
Regulators circle football’s crypto deals
The case is unfolding as British authorities sharpen their focus on crypto sponsorship in football. In June, the Financial Conduct Authority wrote to Premier League clubs warning that deals with unauthorised crypto firms could breach financial services laws and expose clubs to legal and reputational risk. Lucy Castledine, the FCA’s director of consumer investments, said millions of football fans trust their club’s badge and that clubs should not let unauthorised financial firms exploit that loyalty by putting potentially risky products in front of supporters.
For the NFT and blockchain gaming sector, the Sorare saga is a cautionary tale about the collision between crypto-native game mechanics and consumer protection regimes. What began as a landmark licensing deal legitimizing digital collectibles in mainstream sport has become the subject of freezing orders, criminal charges and regulatory warnings, all playing out in London courtrooms over the next two years.
The Premier League’s attempt to vary the order and Sorare’s June 2027 trial are the next milestones to watch. Until then, more than 13 million USD of sponsorship money sits frozen in a Barclays account, a tangible symbol of the unresolved tension between crypto gaming and British law.
the nca froze 13.6m in a Barclays account under the premier league name and the league still holds over 1.5bn in reserves. this is about who paid them, the league itself looks clean
exactly, they froze the opening instalment of a 163m deal. means someone wants to trace where the money came from before the rest moves
League looks clean, agreed. But the order runs to September 14 and they are back in court seeking a variation before then, so this story has legs either way.
Sorare says the sponsorship expired naturally at the end of the season, but the Gambling Commission case from September 2024 is still open. That case is the real story here.
And clubs got paid based on how often their cards were used in the game. The whole setup was crypto native from day one.
the sept 2024 charges are the real precedent here. if fantasy player cards count as gambling under UK law, every play to earn card game with british users should be nervous
the sept 2024 gambling commission case is the domino. if player cards count as a bet, that whole sponsorship was ad spend for a casino, and this is just the follow on
if player cards count as bets under UK law, every club with a fantasy partner is rereading contracts tonight. this does not stop at sorare
not just play to earn, any club with a fantasy partner is rereading contracts tonight. the sponsorship pipeline for crypto generally just got harder in the uk
The card-as-bet question is everything. If the commission lands that way, fantasy football with cash entry fees everywhere lands in scope, crypto or not.
if player cards legally count as bets, every daily fantasy product with uk users just became a gambling business overnight. the sept 2024 case really is the domino
the domino has been wobbling since the 2024 case. only question is whether UK law draws the line at cash out mechanics or fantasy entry fees generally
the entry fee line is where it turns. uk gambling law has never cared what you call the product, only what the user pays to play
13.6 mil frozen and it was just the FIRST instalment of a four year deal. premier league really did not vet this at all
to be fair the league vets sponsors on basic AML, not whether a regulator might retroactively call the product gambling three years later
order runs to sept 14 and the league wants a variation. either the money moves or the story does, someone is talking to the press either way
gambling commission has been circling since sept 2024 and sorare still signed a PL sponsorship in 2025. someone on that bizdev team had main character syndrome
their statement says the account does not even belong to Sorare, so this might be way messier than the Sun headline suggests. media literacy people
if the account isnt even theirs the whole order might collapse at the sept 14 hearing. premier league lawyers earn their keep either way
if it collapses the league still spent 6 months with 13.6m parked and every sponsor asked questions. damage is done regardless of the hearing
frozen under POCA in a Barclays account held by the league itself. the NCA is saying even a clean recipient can have money stuck for months if the source smells off
roughly 41m a year for licensed digital cards across all 20 clubs and the deal lasted exactly one cycle. outlived the hype, did not outlive the regulators
^ stealing that line. but the order was granted back in january 2025 and we only hear about it now, someone leaked at a very convenient time
41m a year and it lasted one cycle. other sponsors will call this a sorare problem, its a category problem
freezing the league own account under POCA is the remarkable part. clean hands dont matter if the source smells, that message just went to every sponsor in football