Top Flight Football is a football based voting game which will be available on web and mobile applications. The game will run on the Up Only Gaming system which rewards players for voting on the correct outcome of weekly football matches in the $FOOTBALL token with no betting and no risk of loss. Top Flight Football is working in association with Karate Combat to develop the sector of Sports Finance (SportFi) in Web3 together and endeavour to onboard as many Web2 customers as possible who follow sports and gaming by making entry to the game free and as simple as possible. Football is by far the worlds most popular sport making it the ideal next step for SportFi to grow and engage with the billions of fans worldwide.
Since the explosion in popularity of Decentralised Finance (DeFi) in Web3 last cycle we have seen the emergence of new sub-sectors such as GameFi and SocialFi. These sub-sectors have now successfully established themselves in the space and continue to innovate and grow quickly, receiving huge volumes of investment and user engagement. We are now beginning to see the emergence of a new sub-sector, SportFi, which has the viable potential to eclipse the popularity and success of all other established sectors.
This potential is supported by the appeal of sports to the market. This consists not only of Web3 customers, but the global market of Web2 customers who follow, watch and bet on their favourite sports. In fact, data from several global surveys in recent years showed that approximately 70% of the world’s population watch some form of sport on TV or online. We can compare this to the video gaming sector which data suggests only 41% of the global population play some form of video games. In developed countries this data grows to 90% for sports viewership and 76% for gaming. Based on these figures it is clear that sport is the worlds leading form of entertainment. Given the success and growth of GameFi in recent years, the potential for SportsFi given the mass global appeal means it is set to become an even more lucrative sector.
Top Flight Football’s objective is to become a pioneer in the sector by launching its first SportFi app focused on football, also called soccer in some countries. Football is widely known as “the worlds sport” and for good reason. Football is estimated to have a following of 3.5 billion fans worldwide! A 2023 survey also showed that a huge 53% of global sports fans followed or watched football, and that football leads the next nearest competitor Cricket in viewership by more than 1 billion fans! The business of football brings in astronomical sums of money to leagues and companies working in the sport and interest in viewership peaks during its flagship event, the World Cup, which outshines every other major sporting event without question. The graph below illustrates the most watched sporting events of all time, with the most recent World Cup being first by almost double the viewership of the 2012 Olympics in second. Unsurprisingly, we then find the 2024 UEFA Champions League football final in third.
Given this information it’s not difficult to see why football is the best choice of sport to take SportFi to the next level.
Similarly, the global sports betting market size was estimated to be worth over $91 billion in 2023, with football betting estimated to make up over 25% of this total. Furthermore, the total market size is expected to continue to grow year on year to over $245 billion by 2033. Given the huge sums of money people bet and, more often than not, lose in traditional football betting it is our view that the main focus of SportFi companies should be to not only onboard Web3 customers, but to also focus on onboarding traditional sports betting customers to Up Only Gaming systems rather than lose their funds on betting when the house inevitably wins.
Top Flight Football is working in association with Karate Combat to develop the SportFi sector into a global phenomenon. We plan to do this by increasing the number of players worldwide engaged in Up Only Gaming. Up Only Gaming is a way to vote on the results of your favourite sporting events and earn when you pick correctly, but with no betting and no subsequent loss for incorrect picks. To this end Karate Combat has shared its open source IP and allowed us to augment it for Top Flight Football’s gaming app and smart contracts. Sharing their IP is a mutually beneficial strategy as by helping independent projects to expand Up Only Gaming across other sports, this will help grow the popularity of the Sportfi sector as a whole.
Top Flight Football’s Up Only Gaming works by allowing players to vote on the results of football matches by selecting either of the teams to win or the game to end in a draw in a given match. The game is powered by the $FOOTBALL token which will run on the Hedera blockchain, with players staking their $FOOTBALL onto the UP Layer 2 blockchain in-app in order to vote on games. A snapshot of how much $FOOTBALL token each player has staked will be taken prior to the weekly gaming period starting and this will decide the magnitude of their total voting power available for the week. This voting power can be split amongst as many matches as players choose from the games available in the app during the playing period. The more staked $FOOTBALL tokens a player votes with on a particular match, the more voting power is used in that game, therefore a higher share of the rewards pool is earned for a successful pick. If the player does not pick the correct outcome, they do not lose any tokens but also do not earn any rewards. Since the total voting power is awarded by snapshot of staked $FOOTBALL in the players UP L2 wallet, no tokens are transferred out of an individual’s wallet at any time.
Each game available for players to vote on has a set rewards pool of $FOOTBALL token allocated to it. At the end of the playing period, the rewards pool is split between all players who correctly chose the outcome of the match. Each winning player will receive a weighted reward depending on multiple factors, including how much $FOOTBALL they have voted with on that individual match and what multiplier they have earned in-app. Game rewards can then be claimed in-app directly to their wallet.
A player’s reward for voting on the correct outcome for any particular match is calculated using the following method:
Initial Rewards Ratio = ($FOOTBALL staked by player) / (Total $FOOTBALL staked )
Multiplied Rewards Ratio = Initial Rewards Ratio ✕ Player Multiplier
Weighting Factor = 1 / ∑ All Players Multiplied Rewards Ratio
Weighted Reward Ratio = Multiplied Rewards Ratio ✕ Weighting Factor
Player Reward = Total Match Prize Pool ✕ Weighted Reward Ratio
The total supply for $FOOTBALL will be set at 10,000,000,000 (10 billion) tokens. The tokens utility will be to give players voting power in the game and in turn decide how much weighted rewards a player will earn from making a correct pick. Once the game is sufficiently established Top Flight Football will then work towards establishing a DAO with $FOOTBALL as the governance token allowing holders to decide on the future direction of the game and of the $FOOTBALL token.
The 10 billion $FOOTBALL tokens will be allocated as illustrated below:
77.5% of total token supply will be distributed linearly over a 3-year period starting at game launch as illustrated below, 15% of tokens will be distributed with an Initial NFT Offering (INO) prior to game launch and the final 7.5% used to seed initial token liquidity on exchanges. A linear distribution timeline from game launch was implemented to ensure stability of emission and therefore minimise the possibility of a supply shock on the token.
3,000,000,000 tokens are allocated to Up Only Gaming rewards for the first 3 years. The total rewards pool for each weekly playing period will trend upwards over the 3-year period. Early adopters will benefit by receiving higher rewards in the early stages of the project when the total number of unique players is lower, meaning they split the prize pool between less users with correct picks. As the game grows and onboards more players the weekly prize pools will be split between more players, however by increasing the rewards distribution gradually each week this will reduce the effect of rewards dilution. In Stage 3 of the roadmap, the game will also begin to implement sink mechanisms by adding in-game utility for the $FOOTBALL token. This will allow the UOG token pool to be continually topped up with more tokens to continue funding player rewards after the 3-year initial distribution period whilst also reducing inflation.
2,000,000,000 tokens are allocated as player engagement rewards outside of the Up Only Gaming distribution timeline. These funds will be used to pay new user sign up bonus, gas fees for UOG distribution as well as provide a flexible pool to reward players and offer extra perks to participation and project engagement on an opportunity basis.
The 1,000,000,000 $FOOTBALL marketing fund emission will be variable depending on the frequency and scale of paid marketing campaigns. The marketing campaigns will not only be aimed towards Web3 customers but to also onboard Web2 users from sports, gaming and traditional betting customers.
The teams 1,750,000,000 locked token distribution is split between founders, development, marketing, socials and design team members who will receive monthly allocations of $FOOTBALL to their personal wallets.
1,500,000,000 tokens will be allocated to customers of the first fundraising round. This fundraising will be conducted with an Initial NFT Offering prior to game launch. Holders of the “Kick Off” NFT Collection will be able to claim their portion of the allocated 1.5 billion $FOOTBALL tokens at the Token Generation Event, based on the number of NFT’s they hold at the time of the wallet snapshot. The funds raised from the INO will be used to fund initial game and smart contract development, bolster early-stage marketing campaigns and to establish early mechanisms to enable buybacks.
750,000,000 tokens will be used to seed initial exchange liquidity. Liquidity will be vital to successful exchange listings during and after the Token Generation Event.
Sinks and buybacks are critical in regulating healthy levels of supply and demand. Put simply, sinks and buybacks will reduce circulating supply. As we onboard more players, demand will increase. It will also allow us to hold a continuous treasury of $FOOTBALL to keep UOG rewards going perpetually.
Our plan for utility based token sinks currently include two main features:
Our plan to raise funds for buybacks is:
These plans for sinks and buybacks are subject to change and we are open to feedback and suggestions from the community.
In summary, Top Flight Football aims to develop an engaging and rewarding game focused on the world’s most popular sport. Players will be able to make weekly picks on real world football matches and be rewarded based on making correct predictions and how much voting power they hold from the $FOOTBALL token. Initial supply will be distributed during INO and then issued over a 3-year period from game launch. Top Flight football will market to Web2 and Web3 markets, be free to play and easy to participate in. Once the game is established the game will grow to multiple leagues and include large tournaments such as the World Cup. The game will also establish token sinks and buyback strategies to provide longevity of game rewards and maintain healthy levels of supply and demand. The $FOOTBALL token will also provide the governance token to establish a DAO and allow the players to decide on the future direction of the game.
This whitepaper is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Participation in the Top Flight Football platform and token ecosystem involves risks, and all users should conduct their own research before participating. Trading cryptocurrencies carries a high level of risk, and may not be suitable for all investors. Before deciding to trade cryptocurrency you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite. The possibility exists that you could sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. You should be aware of all the risks associated with cryptocurrency trading, and seek advice from an independent financial advisor.