Sports

FIFA Rivals brings sports brand Adidas into its universe with in-game content

Published

7 months ago

June 6, 2025

Your Sports Nation

FIFA Rivals is bringing the sports brand Adidas into its soccer universe with exclusive in-game content.

Adidas is entering the world of FIFA Rivals with a series of digital products, features, and
in-game content.

The multi-year licensing agreement kicks off with the worldwide launch of FIFA Rivals on June 12th, the new officially licensed, arcade-style mobile football game from FIFA and Mythical Games, which makes hybrid Web2/Web3 games. In soft launch in just three countries, FIFA Rivals has 150,000 players already.

The Adidas brand and products will be featured across FIFA Rivals, providing players with access to exclusive digital items, including kits, jerseys, and shoe releases inspired by the brand’s rich soccer heritage.

“This is a great partnership for us. They definitely understand gaming well, which is awesome. And they, they’ve jumped in very happy. So we have a multi-year contract with with Adidas, it’s going to be very exciting. I think we’re doing many drops a year with them. There’s a lot of integrations happening. The Adidas gear will actually come into the game,” Mythical CEO John Linden said in an interview with GamesBeat.

“FIFA Rivals is all about celebrating the global passion for football in a fresh and modern way,” said Linden. “Bringing Adidas into this world gives players a deeper cultural connection and the chance to represent one of the most iconic brands in football – on and off the pitch. This collaboration sets a new standard for how brands show up in digital experiences.”

A new era of soccer gaming

FIFA Rivals offers a bold new take on mobile football—combining FIFA authenticity with lightning-fast, arcade-style gameplay. Players can build their dream team from the world’s biggest clubs and stars, compete in real-time PvP, and trade digital player cards on the Mythical Marketplace. As part of this collaboration, fans and FIFA Rivals players can unlock a range of digital items to outfit their teams in true three-stripe style, including:
● Digital Kit Drops featuring classic and future-forward Adidas jersey designs
● Boot Releases tied to real-world player performance and Adidas drops
● A limited-edition match ball designed for FIFA Rivals gameplay
● A fully immersive Adidas Training Facility, where players can level up player cards and complete challenges

The collaboration also includes limited-time in-game events, challenges, and rewards tied to Adidas’ connection to the digital pitch, and includes cover-athlete rights and cross-promotional campaigns.

FIFA Rivals: The future of soccer powered by Mythical

Following a successful beta in key markets, FIFA Rivals is launching globally next week on the App Store and Google Play Store. Built for both core football fans and mobile gamers, FIFA Rivals is a high-octane arcade-style game that allows anyone to jump into the action instantly, build their dream squads, compete in real-time PvP matches, and trade player cards—represented as digital collectibles—on the Mythical Marketplace.

Backed by Mythical’s platform and Marketplace, FIFA Rivals gives players full ownership of their in-game assets with the ability to buy, sell, and trade securely with others around the world.

FIFA Rivals is scheduled to launch globally on iOS and Android on June 12.

The backstory

Mythical has had a a hybrid Web2/Web3 NFL Rivals football game out for a while and it has been a success, with seven million downloads to date and 60,000 a day engage with the Web3 marketplace. That’s a small percentage of the overall players, but those players tend to monetize better and keep coming back to trade items in the marketplace. Most players don’t care that it’s a hybrid game, as players cannot purchase victory.

Since NFL Rivals launched, the app stores have loosened up some restrictions in the marketplace. One of the potential problems was that the platforms could have placed a 30% fee on every trade transaction in the Web3 marketplace. But that isn’t the case at the moment with the way Mythical handles “quick trades,” said Linden.

If you want to trade to get a Cristiano Ronaldo card, it might require you to send a whole package of less famous players to another player. Mythical carries out those trades as a kind of barter, which carries no fee in the app stores. If there are multiple trades that need to happen, then Mythical carries them out. With each trade, Mythical collects a small transaction fee. But the players don’t incur the bigger platform fees.

Adidas can also bring in a lot of its running shoe fans — 400 million of them — into the FIFA Rivals game.

“They are such a big influence in the world of football,” Linden said.

And since players no longer seem to care about the Web3 distinction, Linden said the company is lose to dropping the Web3 terminology from the description of the game.

“It’s just a game with a tradeable economy, and I think everybody’s starting to understand that,” Linden said. “NFL really helped us kick that off the ground. Trading is happening around the world and it is an exciting global secondary market. You’re able to trade seamlessly with each other.”

As for the advances Epic Games has made in getting Fortnite back into the App Store after winning antitrust litigation with Apple in the U.S., Linden said, “I think what Epic is doing is absolutely remarkable for the industry. I think it’s a much needed thing to be done. I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet as an industry, but I do think Epic is making some good progress in terms of what developers can do to engage with their players. And I think that’s awesome.”

As for the ability to create alternative web shops and promote them inside an app, Linden said it is OK to push players toward a secondary market. So the restrictions have loosened on that front. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) still have some restrictions, but the market is opening up.

“It makes it much easier for what we’re doing,” Linden said. A lot of the things we dealt with over the last three or four years from bot a regulatory perspective and also with the App Store perspective, I think that’s all going away now.”

And Linden noted that Adidas has embraced Web3 pretty heavily in the past with sales of collections. But this partnership focuses on Adidas’ interest in gaming and gamers.

With the success of NFL Rivals, Mythical has been able to grow close to 250 people now.

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KWHS senior Emma Hager signs to Black Hills State for volleyball, track and field

Published

11 minutes ago

December 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

CASPER, Wyo. –– Emma Hager is not a fan of public speaking. The Kelly Walsh High School senior held a ceremony on Wednesday to announce her signing with Black Hills State University, where she will compete in both volleyball and track and field. After signing her ceremonial letter of commitment, Hager took questions from media, and she laughed nervously throughout the entire Q&A session.

Luckily, she was not alone. The room at KW was full of friends, family and fellow athletes — all of whom gathered to show their support for her.

When asked what it meant to her to see such a large crowd, all gathered to support her, she said that “It’s great. It’s kind of scary, but it’s great.” The crowd laughed with her as she spoke about her decision to sign with Black Hills State, what she was most looking forward to in the coming years, and more.

Hager, a 6-foot-0 athlete who will graduate in 2026, is planning to major in Exercise Science at BHS, with the goal of eventually going to graduate school and becoming a physical therapist.

She stated that she was just “looking for something new” with her college decision, which is exactly what she will get at Black Hills State.

She said that it was the coaches at Black Hills State that first drew her interest, and she’s looking forward to being a part of the team as a freshman. She said she met a few of the team’s current players and she felt a good kind of chemistry with them.

Hager, who was there with her entire family, said another big reason why she chose Black Hills State was because it was still within driving distance of her home.

She also spoke about being a dual-athlete at BSU, noting that volleyball was her first love but that she’s just as enthralled with track and field.

“I’ve always loved volleyball,” she said, “ever since I first started playing. And track — I didn’t want to like, give it up after only doing it for a year. I wanted to keep doing both of those.”

So she will. Hager competes in long jump and said that her longest jump was 5 feet, 5 inches. Though track and field is her new passion, volleyball will always hold a special place in her heart. She said that she started playing volleyball in fourth grade and acknowledged that it will always remain her first love.

Hager said her teammates are her favorite part of playing volleyball.

“I really enjoyed playing with them this year,” she said. “I feel like I was able to build some really good relationships with them. I was able to build much closer relationships with the girls on my team than I have in any of the other years. So that was really awesome.”

Many of those friends were at her signing, an, after she signed the letter of commitment, a handful of friends and family members gathered to take pictures with the star athlete.

Hager answered a few more questions, smiling and giggling the whole time. When she was asked what message, if any, she would give to all of her supporters, she took a minute to think and then “phoned a friend.”

“Abby,” she pleaded with one of her nearby friends. “If I could tell everyone one thing, what would it be?”

“What would you tell us?” Abby responded.

“Yeehaw,” Hager said with a smile. “I love you all.”

Photos from the signing ceremony can be seen below:

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No. 3 Volleyball Earns Spot in National Title Match with Sweep of No. 1 Pitt – Texas A&M Athletics

Published

12 minutes ago

December 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The most successful season in Texas A&M volleyball history continues following the No. 3-seed Aggies’ sweep of No. 1-seed Pitt, 3-0 (29-27, 25-21, 25-20), in Thursday’s NCAA Championship semifinal match inside the T-Mobile Center.
The Aggies became just the third No. 3 seed in NCAA Tournament history to dispatch of two No. 1 seeds joining UCLA in 2011 and Nebraska in 2021.

A&M will face either Wisconsin or Kentucky in Sunday’s national championship match (2:30 p.m., ABC).

More to come.

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Doris Lemngole Wins the 2025 Bowerman Award

Published

27 minutes ago

December 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

On Thursday evening, Doris Lemngole was awarded with the 2025 Bowerman Title; the most prestigious honor in NCAA Cross-Country/Track and Field.

This year, Lemngole won three NCAA titles for the University of Alabama during cross-country and the indoor/outdoor season, topping it off with a collegiate record-breaking 8:58.15 in the 3000m Steeplechase at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

She most recently defended her cross-country national title at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in Columbia, Missouri.

Lemngole also boasts personal bests of 4:09.28 (1500m), 8:41.83 (3000m), 14:52.57 (5000m), and 18:02 (6k (XC)).

“I would not be here without th Thank you so much to Coach Nick and Coach Dan for believing in me and pushing me beyond what I thought was possible; and to my teammates, thank you for making everyday better and every mile worth it; and to my family, friends, and support staff, and of course Scholarbook,” said Lemngole after receiving her award.

“Running has shaped who I am, I started this sport simply because I love it and along the way, it taught me resilience, patience, and confidence,” she continued with and closed out with “Competing at Alabama has been an incredible honor and wearing this uniform has represented everything I worked for.”

She caps off a historic year with the highest honor in collegiate track and field. Lemngole also recently inked an NIL deal with On back earlier back in August.

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Texas A&M sweeps Pittsburgh in NCAA volleyball semifinal

Published

28 minutes ago

December 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Dec 18, 2025, 09:07 PM ET

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kyndal Stowers and Logan Lednicky combined for 34 points to lead Texas A&M to a 29-27, 25-21, 25-20 sweep of Pittsburgh on Thursday, punching its ticket to the national championship game in women’s volleyball.

Stowers led the way with 18 points and 16 kills on a 53% kill rate, while Lednicky had 16 points and 14 kills on a 45% kill rate. It was Lednicky’s 22nd consecutive match with double-digit kills. Maddie Waak had 47 assists.

The No. 3-seeded Aggies (28-4) reached the final for the first time in program history after never having advanced beyond the Elite Eight. It’s the second No. 1 seed the Aggies have defeated in the tournament after stunning previously undefeated Nebraska in a regional final. Texas A&M also knocked off No. 2 seed Louisville.

Pitt had not been swept this season before Thursday.

Olivia Babcock, a finalist for American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Year, led the Panthers (30-5) with 25 points, finishing with 22 kills and a 54% kill rate. No other Panthers player had double-digit points. Brooke Mosher had 31 assists.

Texas A&M will play the winner of Thursday’s late match between Wisconsin and Kentucky.

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Doris Lemngole Wins The Bowerman

Published

43 minutes ago

December 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

GRAPEVINE, Texas – Alabama track and field phenom Doris Lemngole has been named the recipient of The Bowerman, as announced Thursday at the Gaylord Texas Resort & Convention Center. It marks the first time in program history that a Crimson Tide student-athlete has captured collegiate track and field’s most prestigious award.

The program’s ace, from West Pokot County, Kenya, topped an impressive group of finalists that included Pamela Kosgei of New Mexico and Savannah Sutherland of Michigan. All three student-athletes were their school’s first-ever finalist for The Bowerman.

Thursday marked the sixth time in the last seven years that a female athlete from the Southeastern Conference has won The Bowerman. Lemngole joins 2024 winner Parker Valby (Florida), 2022 winner Abby Steiner (Kentucky), 2021 winner Athing Mu (Texas A&M), 2019 winner Sha’Carri Richardson (LSU) and 2018 winner Keturah Orji (Georgia).

Doris Lemngole – 2025 Track and Field Résumé

Two national titles
- Indoor 5,000m
- Outdoor 3,000m Steeplechase

National runner-up

Three SEC titles
- Indoor 3,000m
- Outdoor 3,000m Steeplechase
- Outdoor 5,000m

Two collegiate records
- Indoor 5,000m
- Outdoor 3,000m Steeplechase

USTFCCCA National Women’s Athlete of the Year

Honda Sport Award finalist for Track and Field

Additional accolades during the 2025 season include:
- Finished fifth at the World Championships in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase, representing Kenya
- Two-time SEC Women’s Scholar Athlete of the Year (indoor and outdoor)
- Named the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Women’s Track and Field Academic All-America Team Member of the Year

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Pitt loses to Texas A&M in NCAA volleyball final four

Published

44 minutes ago

December 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Pitt lost 3-0 to Texas A&M in the final four of the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament on Thursday.

The No. 1-seeded Panthers lost to third-seeded Texas A&M in the national semifinal match at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Pitt’s season ended in the final four for the fifth consecutive season, while Texas A&M is headed to its first-ever national championship.

NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championships - Semifinals — Olivia Babcock #5 of the Pittsburgh Panthers spikes the ball against the Texas A&M Aggies during the Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship Semifinals at T-Mobile Center on December 18, 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri.

Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images

Pitt lost the first set 29-27, lost the second set 25-21, lost 25-20 in the third set. It was the first time this season that Pitt was swept.

“An incredible season comes to an end in the National Semifinal,” Pitt volleyball posted to social media after the match.

Pitt defeated UMBC, Michigan, Minnesota and Purdue to reach the final four. The Panthers finished the season 30-5, claiming at least a share of their fourth consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference title.

Texas A&M will play the winner of Wisconsin-Kentucky on Sunday for the championship.

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