FIFA, soccer's global governing body, locked in Algorand as official blockchain partner before the World Cup competition that starts in November in Qatar.

According to the agreement, Algorand will be a "regional supporter" for the World Cup in North America and Europe, and an official sponsor of the Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand next year. The agreement comes weeks after crypto exchange Crypto.com became a sponsor of the 2022 World Cup.

Algorand will provide the official blockchain-supported wallet for FIFA in what is a sponsorship and technical partnership deal. FIFA will get assistance from Algorand to "further develop its digital assets strategy" and Algorand will have the opportunity for promotions, advertising and media exposure through FIFA.

The partnership was announced by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Algorand founder Silvio Micali in Los Angeles.

"The collaboration is a clear indication of FIFA’s commitment to continually seeking innovative channels for sustainable revenue growth for further reinvestment back into football ensuring transparency to our stakeholders and world-wide football fans – a key element of our vision to make football truly global," Infantino said in a statement.

ALGO tokens surge

Algorand’s native ALGO tokens surged more than 20% in the past 24 hours, CoinGecko data show, with the bulk of the move occurring after the FIFA announcement.

Prices rose to as high as $0.73 from Monday’s $0.59, breaking resistance at the $0.60 level. Resistance at the current level exists, price-charts show, which coincide with the exhaustion in trend after last night’s run.

Futures activity showed a nominal $1.3 million in liquidations in the past 24 hours, suggesting the rally was primarily led by spot ALGO. Some $867,000 in shorts, or bets against a price move upward, were liquidated.