TOPGOAL's Footballcraft European Cup Airdrop: How It Worked and What Happened After
Dec, 4 2025
On June 14, 2024, over 191,000 people signed up for an airdrop that promised free NFTs tied to a football game they’d never heard of. By July 1, only 10,000 of them got the reward. This wasn’t some random crypto scam. It was TOPGOAL’s Footballcraft European Cup Airdrop - one of the biggest Web3 sports events of the year. But here’s the real question: Did it work? And what happened to all those people after the hype faded?
What Was the Footballcraft European Cup Airdrop?
The Footballcraft European Cup Airdrop was a timed campaign by TOPGOAL to get football fans into its AI-powered mobile game, Footballcraft. The goal? To onboard non-crypto users into Web3 by linking real-world football excitement - the 2024 UEFA European Championship - with a digital experience. The reward? 10,000 special edition NFT mystery boxes, each tied to the tournament.
Unlike typical airdrops that ask you to follow a Twitter account and call it a day, this one was complex. You had to complete nine steps: join Twitter, Telegram, Discord, download the app, add TOPGOAL to your CoinMarketCap watchlist, retweet with tags, get a Partner Code from CoinMarketCap’s Diamond Store, and enter it in the app. It wasn’t just about signing up - it was about proving you were serious.
Why so many steps? Because TOPGOAL wasn’t chasing quick numbers. They wanted users who’d stick around. And it worked - at first. The Discord server grew 387% during the campaign. The app saw a spike in downloads. CoinMarketCap, with over 100 million monthly users, helped spread the word. But complexity came at a cost.
How Did People Actually Participate?
Most participants spent between 18 and 22 minutes completing all nine steps. That’s longer than most people spend deciding what to watch on Netflix. For crypto veterans, it was manageable. For a casual football fan who just wanted to get a free NFT? It was a headache.
Reddit user u/CryptoSoccerFan92 said they spent three days troubleshooting because the Partner Code wouldn’t register. Trustpilot reviews from July 2024 show 42% of users praised the airdrop’s organization - but 58% complained about glitches, confusing instructions, and app crashes. One user wrote: “I did everything right. The app said ‘code accepted.’ Then nothing. I had to email support twice.”
The technical requirements weren’t easy either. Footballcraft needed Android 8.0+ or iOS 13.0+. That meant older phones - common in emerging markets where football fans are most numerous - were locked out. And if you didn’t already have a crypto wallet? You had to create one. That’s another barrier.
Even the “simple” steps had hidden traps. Twitter verification sometimes took hours to sync. Telegram groups had bots that misdirected newcomers. Discord servers were flooded with spam. The airdrop wasn’t just hard - it was messy.
What Did People Get?
Winners didn’t get cash. They didn’t even get $GOAL tokens. They got mystery boxes - NFTs that unlocked in-game items in Footballcraft. Think virtual jerseys, player cards, or boosts for your AI-controlled team. No direct monetary value. No trading on OpenSea. Just in-game perks.
That’s intentional. TOPGOAL isn’t trying to be a crypto trading platform. It’s trying to be a game. The $GOAL token powers the ecosystem, but the airdrop was about locking users into the Footballcraft experience. The idea? Once you’re in the game, you’ll want to keep playing. Maybe even spend real money on upgrades.
But here’s the catch: Footballcraft is still in Early Access. The game is functional, but it’s rough. Players report AI behavior that doesn’t feel realistic, lag during matches, and a UI that’s clunky. If you’re used to FIFA or eFootball, this feels like a beta test. And that’s exactly what it is.
Did It Attract the Right People?
TOPGOAL claimed it wanted to bring “the next 4 billion sports fans” into Web3. That’s a bold claim. The global football fanbase is around 4 billion. But Web3 adoption? Around 1.2 million daily active users across all blockchain games, according to DappRadar in mid-2024.
The airdrop pulled in 191,499 participants - huge for a Web3 gaming project. But how many of them were real football fans? Or just crypto hunters chasing free NFTs? Discord analytics showed a 63% drop in daily active users after the airdrop ended. That’s not retention. That’s churn.
Compare this to Sorare, which raised $680 million in 2022 by letting fans collect real-world player cards. Or Chiliz, which partners with real clubs like Barcelona and Juventus to issue fan tokens. Those platforms have legitimacy. TOPGOAL has no official team partnerships. No licensed players. No real-world data feed. Just AI simulations.
That’s the core tension. Footballcraft is trying to be a next-gen football game. But without real teams, real stats, or real players, it’s hard to convince fans it’s more than a gimmick.
How Does It Stack Up Against Other Web3 Games?
Most Web3 game airdrops are simple: connect your wallet, earn tokens. TOPGOAL’s was different. It demanded social proof, app downloads, and platform integration. That made it harder - but also more selective.
Immutable’s $IMX airdrop in 2024? Just connect a wallet. 2 million participants. Low barrier. High volume. Low retention.
TOPGOAL? High barrier. Lower volume. But higher potential for engagement - if the game delivers.
Industry analysts at Messari called it “an ambitious but high-risk proposition.” They weren’t wrong. The sports gaming market is worth $13.5 billion. But Web3 games still struggle to retain users. The average 7-day retention rate for blockchain games in Q2 2024? Just 12.3%.
TOPGOAL’s biggest advantage? Partnerships. Binance, OKX, CoinMarketCap, and BNB Chain backed the campaign. That gave it credibility. No other Web3 football game had that level of exchange support. But partnerships don’t fix a bad game.
What’s Happening Now?
As of October 2024, Footballcraft remains in Early Access. The European Cup Airdrop is over. The mystery boxes are distributed. The hype has cooled.
TOPGOAL’s roadmap says they’re working on “full game launch with expanded AI features” and “official team partnerships.” But as of December 2025, no team has been announced. No major update has been released. The app still has the same glitches. The Discord server is quiet.
The $GOAL token is still listed on major exchanges. But trading volume is low. Most of the 191,499 participants never touched the token. They got their NFTs, played for a week, and moved on.
Is TOPGOAL dead? No. But it’s stuck. It got the attention. Now it has to deliver the experience.
Was It Worth It?
For the 10,000 winners? Maybe. They got free NFTs. Some used them. Most didn’t.
For TOPGOAL? They spent over $3 million on the airdrop. That’s a massive investment. If even 5% of participants become long-term users, it might pay off. But right now, the numbers don’t show it.
The real lesson? Airdrops don’t build communities. Games do. If Footballcraft doesn’t become fun, immersive, and smooth by 2026, all those 191,499 sign-ups will be forgotten. And TOPGOAL’s dream of bringing “the next 4 billion sports fans” into Web3 will stay just that - a dream.
The European Cup is over. The NFTs are in wallets. Now the real test begins: Can a game built on AI and blockchain actually make football fans care?
Joe West
December 4, 2025 AT 16:41Man, I did the whole 9-step thing and got nothing. Not even a thank you email. I just wanted to try the game, not sign up for a crypto marathon. The app crashed twice while I was entering the code. Feels like they used us as guinea pigs for their marketing funnel.
Still, props to TOPGOAL for trying something different. Most airdrops are just ‘follow us on Twitter and get 0.1 ETH.’ This was actually complex. Too complex, maybe.
Mariam Almatrook
December 6, 2025 AT 05:57One cannot help but observe the profound sociological dissonance inherent in the deployment of such a labyrinthine, technocratic airdrop architecture upon a demographic ostensibly motivated by visceral, emotional engagement with the beautiful game. The very notion that one might ‘onboard’ four billion football enthusiasts via nine mandatory digital checkpoints is not merely impractical-it is ontologically absurd.
One might as well require a PhD in blockchain theory before permitting entry to a pub watching the World Cup. The hubris of conflating gamification with genuine cultural integration is, frankly, grotesque.
nicholas forbes
December 7, 2025 AT 16:07Look, I get it. They wanted quality users. But when you make it harder to get a free NFT than to file your taxes, you’re not filtering users-you’re scaring them off.
I didn’t even finish. Got stuck on the Partner Code step. My phone died halfway through. I just… gave up. Not mad. Just tired.
miriam gionfriddo
December 7, 2025 AT 21:46THIS IS A SCAM. I DID EVERYTHING RIGHT. THE APP SAID ‘CODE ACCEPTED’ AND THEN NOTHING. I SPENT 22 MINUTES ON THIS AND GOT A DIGITAL POSTER THAT DOESN’T EVEN WORK IN THE GAME. TOPGOAL IS JUST USING FANS TO BOOST THEIR TOKEN PRICE AND THEN ABANDONING THEM. I’M SENDING THIS TO THE FTC.
AND YES I’M STILL ANGRY. I’M STILL ANGRY.
WHY DIDN’T THEY JUST GIVE US THE NFTS UPFRONT? WHY MAKE US HURT OURSELVES FOR A BUNCH OF PIXELS??
Kenneth Ljungström
December 8, 2025 AT 14:13Big respect to TOPGOAL for trying to do something real instead of just pumping tokens. I actually played the game for a week after getting my NFT. The AI is wild-my team keeps passing to a player who’s been substituted out 😂
It’s not FIFA, but it’s got heart. If they fix the lag and add real player stats next year, I’m in. Keep going, team. 🙌
Brooke Schmalbach
December 10, 2025 AT 11:32Let’s be brutally honest: 191,000 sign-ups means nothing if 95% of them never opened the app after the airdrop. This wasn’t a community-building effort-it was a vanity metric chase. The fact that the Discord server collapsed faster than a leveraged crypto position says everything.
And let’s not pretend the NFTs had value. They were digital confetti. No utility, no resale, no real-world tie-in. Just a tax write-off for the founders.
michael cuevas
December 10, 2025 AT 19:52So you spent 20 minutes doing 9 steps to get a jersey that doesn’t even fit your player in the game?
Congrats. You just got scammed by a startup that thinks ‘AI football’ is a thing. I’ve seen better AI in my toaster.
Next time just give me the NFT and shut up. I didn’t sign up for a tech support nightmare.
Nina Meretoile
December 10, 2025 AT 20:05Football is the universal language. But Web3? That’s still a dialect only a few speak. TOPGOAL tried to bridge that gap-and yeah, it stumbled. But isn’t that what progress looks like? Messy.
Most people don’t need to understand blockchain to love the game. They just need to feel something. The game needs to feel alive. Right now, it feels like a demo from 2020.
But if they listen to the fans, fix the UI, and bring in real teams… this could be huge. I believe in the dream. Keep going.
Barb Pooley
December 12, 2025 AT 01:42Anyone else think this was a front for a pump-and-dump? 191k people sign up, 10k get NFTs, the rest are left hanging… then the token pumps because the devs pretend there’s demand?
And CoinMarketCap helped? That’s like letting a used car salesman host a TED Talk. This whole thing stinks. I’m not even mad-I’m just disappointed in myself for falling for it.
Richard T
December 13, 2025 AT 15:07What’s wild is how many people didn’t even realize the NFTs were in-game only. I saw comments like ‘Where’s my ETH?’ or ‘Can I sell this?’-like they thought they were getting crypto cash.
Maybe the real failure wasn’t the steps-it was the lack of clear communication. If you tell people they’re getting a ‘free NFT,’ they assume it’s tradeable. That’s not their fault. That’s on the marketing.
jonathan dunlow
December 14, 2025 AT 00:38Look, I’ve been in Web3 since 2017. I’ve done 37 airdrops. This one was the most *thoughtful*. Not the easiest, not the flashiest-but the most intentional. They didn’t want a million ghost wallets. They wanted people who’d stick around.
Yes, the game is rough. Yes, the steps were brutal. But look at the retention curve compared to Immutable or Sorare. Those are just wallets with NFTs collecting dust. This? At least people were *trying* to play.
They’re not dead. They’re just in the basement, building something better. And if you’ve ever built anything real, you know the basement is where the magic happens.
Chris Mitchell
December 14, 2025 AT 09:03Complexity is the enemy of adoption. You can’t ask a casual fan to jump through nine hoops for a digital jersey. If you want 4 billion fans, you need one click. Not nine.
This wasn’t onboarding. It was filtering. And the filter was too fine. You lost 95% of your audience just to keep 5%. Not worth it.
rita linda
December 16, 2025 AT 01:10Why are Americans always so obsessed with making things unnecessarily complicated? In Europe, we just watch the game. We don’t need a blockchain wallet to cheer for our team.
This isn’t innovation. It’s American overengineering. You took football-the most beautiful, simple sport-and turned it into a corporate tech audit. Disgraceful.
Martin Hansen
December 17, 2025 AT 21:00191k people signed up and you think that’s ‘success’? Congrats, you got 191k people to waste their time so you could inflate your token metrics. You didn’t build a community-you built a graveyard of disappointed users.
And now you’re pretending this was a ‘bold experiment’? No. It was a failed vanity project wrapped in buzzwords. The only thing that survived is your ego.
Frank Cronin
December 18, 2025 AT 09:06Let me get this straight: You spent $3 million to give 10k people digital socks… and you’re proud?
Meanwhile, real football clubs are signing multi-billion dollar deals. You’re out here treating fans like beta testers for your failed app.
Next time, just buy a billboard. At least then you’d get actual eyeballs.
Also, your Discord server looks like a ghost town after a power outage. That’s not retention. That’s abandonment.