House of Doge, the commercial arm of the Dogecoin Foundation, has acquired a majority stake in Italy’s historic but struggling professional soccer team.
In Monday’s announcement, Ducat House, along with merger partner Bragg House Holdings, became the “largest shareholder” of Triestina Calcio 1918, USA, as part of its mission to support projects “of community, cultural relevance and long-term value.”
“The investment in US Triestina 1918 represents Dogecoin’s most ambitious step into European football and positions Dogecoin at the forefront of the convergence of digital assets and traditional sports,” it said in a statement.
As part of this move, Villa Ducale will provide new funds to US Triestina Calcio 1918 to support the development of football operations and the club’s community activities.
Cryptocurrency integration will also be introduced within the club, with aspects such as enabling crypto payments for “tickets, benefits and home equipment products”.
“The aim is to introduce a modern payment structure that improves the matchday experience and supports the financial resilience of clubs, while further increasing the utility of Dogecoin,” the announcement reads.
If the Ducale house can help the club return to its former glory, it could draw a lot of attention to the Doge, with an average of 3 million to 6 million domestic viewers reportedly tuning in to watch Serie A’s top-flight matches.
Italy’s soccer team is in danger of falling off the pyramid
In recent years, there has been a growing trend of foreign investors taking stakes in struggling soccer teams and trying to bring them back to the top.
Solana’s digital asset treasury, Brera Holdings, has several initiatives in the professional football space, owning Italian clubs such as Serie B side SS Juve Stabia, as well as a number of smaller clubs in countries such as Mongolia, Macedonia and Mozambique.
In the case of Triestina Calcio in the United States in 1918, the club was one of the founding members of Serie A in 1929. But he has been bouncing around the bottom teams for decades and hasn’t competed at the top level since 1958.
The capital injection from the Ducale family should be of great benefit to the club, which currently sits at the bottom of Serie C, the third tier of Italian professional football.
The club risks being relegated to Serie C2, just one level above semi-professional football, next season if results do not improve.
spread the governorship
Doge House’s stated goal is to expand the utility of Dogecoin (DOGE) to foster broader adoption and demand for the digital asset, and its recent partnership with US hospitality payments platform inKind is a key example of this.
Related: Dogecoin ETF Explained: How TDOG can be used to invest without owning DOGE
But this isn’t the first time the Doge Foundation’s finance arm has expanded into professional sports.
In March, it partnered with NTT IndyCar Series driver Devlin DeFrancesco and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing as part of the Indianapolis 500 race event.
Through this partnership, DeFrancesco received the equivalent of $100,000 of his Indy 500 salary in Dogecoin (DOGE) and personally donated $25,000 worth of DOGE to the Riley Foundation for Children in Indianapolis.
The Doge’s Palace also hosted a competition where the community could choose a design for DeFrancesco’s helmet and wrap for his race car, and the helmet was auctioned for charity after the event.
In addition, Doge’s House also announced earlier this month that it plans to list on the Nasdaq through a merger with media technology gaming platform Braghouse Holdings.
“The combined organization will generate recurring and diversified revenues through an integrated advanced payments infrastructure, Dogecoin-denominated merchant services, proprietary data insights, licensing, and global treasury operations,” the statement said.
The company has also recently made some high-level executive acquisitions, with Matt Swan, former chief technology officer at Booking.com and chief investment officer at Citi, taking on the role of chief digital officer.
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