A one-of-a-kind Cristiano Ronaldo NFT trading card, minted by Sorare, the digital fantasy football game, sold for $400,312.50 at Bonhams today (Thursday 11 November) – setting a new world record price for a digital football trading card. The exclusive item achieved the highest price ever paid for a Sorare card – the second highest for any football trading card.

The exclusive single lot online sale, entitled Cristiano Ronaldo: One of a Kind, ran from 1-11 November, with bidding starting at $99,000.

Bonhams Head of Digital Art, Nima Sagharchi, said: "Sports trading cards have been collected and much sought-after for over a century, and this really was one-of-a kind, an exclusive digital card featuring one of the greatest sportsmen of all time – Cristiano Ronaldo. Bonhams has always aimed to push boundaries in our sales and to be the first auction house to offer an NFT of this kind and to achieve a new world record price for a digital football trading card is truly fantastic."

The NFT sold at Bonhams is the only unique card of Ronaldo minted for the 2020/2021 season and is officially licenced by the player and his team. Sorare is a fantasy game of football, where players buy, sell, trade, and manage a virtual team with digital playing cards. The game uses blockchain technology based on Ethereum and was developed in 2018 by Nicolas Julia and Adrien Montford. As with traditional fantasy football, the teams are ranked based on the performance of their players on the real-world football pitch. Though showing him in the black and white kit of Juventus, it remains usable in the game despite Ronaldo's transfer to Manchester United.The supply of cards is limited and use of the blockchain means that digital cards have provable scarcity. The come in three formats: unique (1 of 1), super rare (1 of 10) and rare (1 of 100). The Ronaldo card on offer is unique and, as one the greatest players of the modern era, arguably the most desirable card in the game.

Cristiano Ronaldo is one of a kind. With 5 Ballon d'Ors and 32 trophies, including seven league titles, five champions leagues and a UEFA European Championship win with Portugal, he is, without question, one of the greatest footballers to ever play the game. On top of this he is the most followed person in the world on Instagram with 336 million followers, 60 million more than 2nd place, and is the first footballer billionaire.

Born and raised in Madeira, Ronaldo began his senior club career playing for Sporting CP, before signing with Manchester United in 2003, aged 18. He went on to win three consecutive Premier League titles, The Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup with the Manchester club. At the age of 23, he won his first Ballon d'Or. Ronaldo became the most expensive footballer of the time when he signed for Real Madrid in 2009 in a transfer worth €94 million (£80 million). There he won 15 trophies, including two La Liga titles, two Copa del Rey and four Champions Leagues, and became the club's all-time top goalscorer. In 2018, Ronaldo signed for Juventus in a transfer worth an initial €100 million (£88 million), the most expensive transfer for an Italian club and the most expensive transfer for a player over 30 years old. He won two Serie A titles, two Supercoppe Italiana and a Coppa Italia, before returning to Manchester United in 2021.

Ronaldo made his senior international debut for Portugal in 2003 at the age of 18 and has since earned over 180 caps, making him Portugal's most-capped player. With more than 100 goals at international level, he is also the nation's all-time top goalscorer. He has played in and scored at 11 major tournaments; he scored his first international goal at Euro 2004, where he helped Portugal reach the final. He assumed full captaincy of the national team in July 2008. He led Portugal to their first major tournament title at Euro 2016.