Cryptocurrency solution provider UTRUST has announced it has partnered with Portuguese Primeira Liga Football champions S.L. Benfica.

The partnership will enable supporters to purchase matchday tickets and merchandise directly from the Benfica website using cryptocurrencies.

S.L. Benfica CEO, Domingos Soares de Oliveira described the partnership as “an exciting day in the history of S.L. Benfica.”

He said: “Our benfiquistas make Benfica the unique and special club it is and we recognise that many of our supporters are now digital users first so we want to be ahead of the curve when it comes to adopting novel technologies and giving our supporters the best online experience.

“We are very excited about the possibilities that this partnership with UTRUST presents in the evolution of our e-commerce strategy and we look forward to accepting our first cryptocurrency payment.”

UTRUST provides instant crypto-to-fiat conversions and the deal sees S.L Benfica become the first major European football club to accept cryptocurrency as a payment method.

Through the UTRUST platform, users can pay using the UTRUST’s own token in addition to popular cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

UTRUST Co-Founder and CEO, Nuno Correia commented: “This partnership with Portugal’s number one football club marks a major milestone for UTRUST and the blockchain ecosystem as a whole.

“Benfica is one of the biggest sporting clubs worldwide and we are delighted to be making cryptocurrency payments possible for their 14 million supporters around the world.”