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English soccer team Manchester City is taking another shot at a crypto partnership, six months after severing ties with a previous sponsor.
The club announced on Monday that cryptocurrency platform OKX will be its official training kit partner for the upcoming season, with the company featuring on both the men's and women's first team's training kits.
"Our partnership with Man City has provided a great platform through which we have the opportunity to educate those curious about crypto and offer those already involved the training they need to participate responsibly," said Haider Rafique, global chief marketing officer at OKX.
The announcement accompanies a series of artworks featuring various Manchester City players, including new signing Erling Haaland, from street artist Akse P19 and Global Street Art Agency.
OKX first signed a sponsorship deal with Man City back in March, not long after the club cut off relations with previous partner 3Key Technologies.
The tie-up with the mysterious 3Key was ended after questions were reportedly raised regarding the company's ownership.
But the experience doesn't seem to have put Man City off the crypto space, with the club's chief operating officer Roel de Vries announcing that "OKX and Man City are aligned on values such as innovation and success and for both parties, everything starts with training and education."
The announcement further deepens the relationship between Man City and OKX, which was last week announced as presenting partner for the team's Trophy Tour 2022.
Crypto gaining traction in the world of soccer
Soccer teams have been leaning into crypto partnerships and projects in recent years, with even the English Premier League filing two crypto and NFT trademarks in the U.S. last month.
Man City first dabbled in the space in March last year, when it launched a $CITY token for fans.
Individual stars of the sport are also getting involved, with Christiano Ronaldo last month signing a multi-year marketing deal with crypto firm Binance that will see several Ronaldo NFTs created.
Rafique today also drew a comparison between sports and crypto trading.
"Being Man City's Official Training Kit Partner helps us extend that mindset from the training ground over to our trading app community," he said. "We want our community to learn from that mindset and use our demo trading feature to train for the real exchange just like Man City players train before the beginning of the season."