Chiliz CEO Alexandre Dreyfus talks to The Korea Times during an interview at a hotel in Seoul, Sept. 3. Courtesy of Factblock

Here's an intriguing fact: baseball reigns as the most popular sport in Korea. Even among football fans, European teams are favored over local ones.

In this challenging environment for domestic football, Chiliz — a blockchain company established in 2018 — has stepped in. Starting this year, it has been announcing a series of collaborations with local entities.

In February, it partnered with the K League, offering fans the opportunity to bid on their favorite stars' scored ball, with its authenticity verified through NFTs.

In May, it formed an alliance with Naver Pay, Korea's largest payment platform that boasts a 33 million domestic user base. Naver Pay launched a beta service for a digital asset wallet, with Chiliz Chain becoming its inaugural blockchain partner.

Still, Chiliz CEO Alexandre Dreyfus believes this is just the beginning of the company's relationships with Korean businesses. Eager to expand, he hopes to generate synergy from these growing partnerships.

The Korea Times held an exclusive in-person interview with Dreyfus during his recent visit to Korea Blockchain Week on Sept. 3.

"The K League was our first Korean sports property, but definitely not the last. We've been in talks with many leagues and teams, including in baseball. We've also been in discussions with a number of entertainment companies," Dreyfus said.

One of Chiliz's main perks is offering football fans the ability to purchase "fan tokens" in collaboration with over 170 sports clubs worldwide, including FC Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspur FC and Paris Saint-Germain FC. These tokens give fans the chance to vote on minor team decisions, providing a greater sense of belonging. The tokens are traded using Chiliz's cryptocurrency, $CHZ.

Chiliz CEO Alexandre Dreyfus, center, speaks during a session at Korea Blockchain Week at a hotel in Seoul, Sept. 3. On the right is Pär Helgosson, head of web 3 and metaverse at Paris Saint-Germain FC. Courtesy of Factblock

Throughout the interview, Dreyfus emphasized his hopes to create synergy between collaborations.

"I'm a very strong believer in bridging sports and entertainment. For instance, if we can invite a K-pop band in Europe for a match, it is like a co-marketing opportunity. The football team can promote the band. The band can promote the football team. Then there are some fans holding tokens, or using Naver Pay, can have opportunities to visit there," Dreyfus said.

"Another dream is to apply the transaction function on Naver Pay. Let's say you have a PSG token in your Naver Pay wallet. You get about a 10 percent discount in the Nike shop because Nike is the sponsor of PSG. That's the kind of things I like to try to work on."

Although the transformation in fan experience has been successful in Europe, one question remains: can it achieve the same success in Korea?

Dreyfus acknowledged that cultural differences in fan engagement exist here, but he believes they don't necessarily pose a disadvantage for Chiliz.

"In Korea, we're bringing in Western teams' IPs. But Korean fans clearly want to engage with international brands. For example, in Italy, fans only love their local teams and don't care about others. In Korea, people follow international teams more because, to be honest, the local teams have less influence," Dreyfus said. "I like to call them 'casual fans.' On average, they support about 4.6 teams."

Chiliz CEO Alexandre Dreyfus and K League Secretary General Cho Yeon-sang pose after a meetup at Korea Blockchain Week at a hotel in Seoul, Sept. 3. Courtesy of Chiliz

At the same time, the domestic football league is growing. As of July, the cumulative attendance for K League 1 and 2 had surpassed 2 million spectators — the fastest this milestone has been reached since the introduction of the promotion and relegation system in 2013.

K League Secretary General Cho Yeon-sang also told The Korea Times that the collaboration offered unique experiences and various contents that fans can enjoy even outside K Leauge match days.

However, regulations remain a key challenge for many global projects, including Chiliz. Fan tokens for the K League haven't been launched yet, and the B2C services Chiliz offers in other countries are currently unavailable in Korea.

Dreyfus noted that Chiliz is still waiting for further specifics, although the Virtual Asset User Protection Law has clarified some rules.

"That's why, over the past six years, we've taken our time to learn. I've probably visited Seoul 40 times, especially before COVID-19. I was here every other month. If it takes another two or three years to launch something truly meaningful from a product standpoint, we're willing to wait," he said.

"We definitely want to invest, and we're keen to introduce some out-of-the-box ideas. Sometimes, it's easier to innovate when you're not a local."