Create NFTs for Your Sports Team

Here are the various steps to take you from nothing to selling a collection of NFTs branded to your team, such as player cards.

For a more generic approach to NFTs, you can dive into the Work with NFTs section, which is heavily referenced in this page.

For each step, this starter kit points you to the relevant documentation page on this site, along with a short explanation. Get ready!

Preparing the files

Whatever your target, an NFT project always requires two types of files:

• The visual assets themselves, which are the images or videos that you want to turn into NFTs.

• The metadata files, which describe the visual assets in a way that can be handled by blockchain tools (most notably, where they are hosted).

Learn more here:

Preparing the NFT files

When creating a "Seasonal Player" NFT series for your sports team, the graphic ratio could be one of these:

• Classic trading card: 630 x 880 pixels (2.5" x 3.5" ratio). This gives the nostalgic feel of physical sports cards.

• Modern digital: 1080 x 1080 pixels (Square) or 1080 x 1920 (Vertical Phone/Story format).

If you are creating an NFT series for team players, you should have a folder on your computer that looks like this:

/2024_2025_Season_Assets
    /Images
        player_01.png
        player_02.png
        ...
        player_11.png

With your files created, you must host them properly:

Hosting your NFT on IPFS

Once your files are hosted on an IPFS host, you can generate the attached JSON files, resulting in this folder organization:

/2024_2025_Season_Assets
    /Images
        player_01.png
        player_02.png
        ...
        player_11.png
    /Metadata
        player_01.json  <-- Points to player_01.png on IPFS
        player_02.json  <-- Points to player_02.png on IPFS
        ...
        player_11.json  <-- Points to player_11.png on IPFS

You don't have to create the metadata files by hand! Most NFT-centric tools will handle batch IPFS upload and metadata file generation for you.

Setting up your Web3 environment

Before creating the NFTs, you need to configure certain technical details on your side.

Install a Web3 wallet

The most well-known wallet is MetaMask.

Install MetaMaskHow to use MetaMask

Configure the wallet for Chiliz Chain

Set it up to work on both networks:

• Spicy Testnet for testing your collection.

• Chiliz Mainnet once everything is tested and ready to launch.

Link Chiliz Chain and MetaMaskConnect using RPC

Obtain CHZ tokens

You will need some $CHZ in your wallet to pay for "gas" or transaction fees (deployment and minting).

For testing: Get free tokens

Obtain Free Testnet Tokens

For production: Buy CHZ tokens

You can buy CHZ tokens on most crypto exchanges: Coinbase, Meria, Kraken, Bitpanda, etc.

Choosing your NFT standard

There are several NFT standard you can choose from, depending on your project's needs.

Choosing the right NFT contract

For a "Seasonal Player" series, you need to decide how the NFTs will work:

• ERC-1155 (Edition / Multi-Token): Recommended for Player Cards. This allows you to create multiple copies of the same item (for instance, 100 copies of "Player A - 2024 Season").

• ERC-721 (Collection): Best if every single NFT is unique (e.g., "Player A - Signed 1/1").

Creating and Hosting the NFTs

There are several ways to create (or "mint") your collection of NFTs.

The Dashboard Way (easiest)

This is the easiest way for a sports team to deploy without writing complex code.

1. Go to thirdweb, create an account by connecting with your Web3 wallet. You will be directed to a dashboard.

2. Make sure that your wallet is set on Chiliz Chain Mainnet (or Spicy Testnet if you are testing).

3. Click on the "Create Project" button, give your project a name (for instance, "2025-2026 Team NFT"), and only all the "thirdweb.com" domain for now. Click "Create".

4. thirdweb then displays a Client ID and Secret Key, to be saved on your computer. These allow your app, if any, to authenticate to the project. Confirm that you saved them, and click "View Project".

5. From the project dashboard, click on the "Tokens" option on the left menu, then click on the "Create Token" button and select "NFT Collection".

   
6. From there, you can follow the guide from thirdweb:

Deploy an ERC-721 token | thirdweb Documentationthirdweb docs

The Marketplace Way

If you want to mint and immediately list for sale:

1. Go to OKX, create an account by connecting with your Web3 wallet, then open the OKX NFT Studio, which is part of the OKX NFT Marketplace.

2. Click "Create now", select "Bulk creation", then follow the instructions.

The Developer Way (Custom Contract)

If you have developers, they can use Hardhat, Viem, Remix IDE, or other EVM-compatible tools.

Follow our guides in the Work with NFTs section for information on hosting, minting, and listing NFTs.