Admit it. Nothing beats the buzz of being a ‘Successful Manager’ in your favourite Football Game — but just how do you go about building your ‘Managerial Legacy?’
Each season, major Fantasy Football and Football Management franchises offer increasingly more options to their gamers giving them the ability to play, manage or occasionally even own their chosen team in order to lead them to glory.
In turn, the almost endless choices create environments for rivalries and competition to pit their wits against each other using a multitude of long and short term strategies.
In 2017, whilst proclaiming his Barcelona won the Champions League with 8 academy players, Pep Guardiola responded to a jibe from as then Chelsea Manager, Antonio Conte who had accused of being a ‘Chequebook Manager’ by stating ‘we are ALL chequebook Managers’
Sorare — Football Manager Profiles Explained
Sorare Managers have very different backgrounds, interests and motivations, which are reflected in their approaches to buying and selling player cards.
Putting aside opportunistic trades, manager profiles can be broadly categorised as follows:
1. Collectors
Collectors are generally not afraid to compete aggressively at auction to secure a specific Player Card. Criteria such as popularity of player IRL, team, nationality, age, specific serial numbers or special editions are all factors driving value for these managers. Despite their willingness to bid higher, they are still likely to be speculating that the cards future value value will appreciate materially on the long term, however, they are likely to be less focused on the player’s short-term weekly performances.
2. Traders
Traders come in all shapes and sizes, but most tend to be more short-term focussed. The objective is simple — buy cheap and resell at a higher price. Players are bought and re-listed often based on the players real-life form and/or favourable upcoming fixtures; both of which can make the card look attractive to other managers striving to compete in the Sorare Tournaments. Other factors such as the cards XP level and Bonuses will also have an influence on how a trader appraises the potential resale value of a Player Card.
3. Gamers
Gamers are primarily motivated by assembling the most competitive Tournament team(s). Buying cheap is always a bonus but not always the main motivator. Making a profit or even considering to resell the Player Card might also not be an immediate consideration. This does not mean that there is no financial rationale for this strategy, as it is the in-game rewards that are being targeted to provide the immediate return on investment. Again, real-life form, and favourable looking upcoming fixtures along with the cards XP level and Bonuses are key drivers of value to Gamers.
Determining the Value of Sorare Player Cards
So, now that you have some insight to how other Sorare Managers might be thinking, let’s look at the key drivers that determine the value of a given Player Card.
When valuing your cards or others you are looking to buy for your collection, here are some of the more obvious trends and market dynamics to consider:
Primary Market Sales (BUY NEW)
Sorare creates the foundation of the transfer market with a continuous supply of New Player Cards each week which are available at auction. The volume of cards auctioned each week increases in-line with the amount of active Managers playing the game and the different scarcities of cards on offer are kept in-line with overall production percentages.
Opening prices at auction are set at:
Rare Cards: 0.01 ETH
Super Rare Cards: 0.10 ETH
Unique Cards: 1 ETH
Historically, popular auctions tend to heat-up in the last few minutes and if a bid is placed with under 1 minute remaining, the clock resets back to 1 minute.
Secondary Market Sales (TRADE)
Alongside the Primary Market a ‘Trade’ market exists for Managers to sell and advertise players they are willing to part with. This is a 24/7 Market Place where Managers set the opening price and duration of the auction for the player(s) they are looking to sell.
You can expect to see a wider range of Player Cards available on the secondary market and with this, a wider range of opening prices. Given managers tend to list players at above the opening prices for ‘New Cards’ (many reasons — see Manager Profiles above), the average amount of bids to win an auction is usually a lot less than you would see on a ‘New Player Card’ and if managers have priced fairly, you might be able to sign a card with just your opening bid!
It should be noted that volumes on the Secondary Market are closely correlated with volumes seen on the Primary market, however, liquidity on Secondary Market should not be taken for granted and so, if you are looking to sell, you should price your card competitively to attract a bid(s).
Manager & Values Summary
Managers will often have contrasting views and opinions of the “Value” of Player Cards across the Primary and Secondary Market. A card may seem very overpriced to some managers whilst others will find it a may view it as a bargain.
If you would like to openly discuss a Player Card valuation that you see on the market, then we encourage you to post in our Discord Community where you will find many different styles of manager that will be happy to provide you with their opinions.
Credit to PAP (Sorare Ambassador) for providing me with the Manager Profiles. These are also available in the Platform FAQ.
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