Ahead of SFS 26 and the new ExtraTime start-up competition, the spotlight turns back onto the finalists of the Social Football Summit 2025: companies with different ideas and perspectives, but all united by the same drive to grow and innovate within their industry. A year after the last edition, each start-up has successfully consolidated its market positioning or enhanced its product offering, confirming a shared trajectory—the ability to evolve, stay agile, and effectively respond to the industry’s emerging needs.
A standout example is Authentica, a European Digital Product Passport (DPP) platform that helps brands comply with ESPR regulations, protect themselves against counterfeiting via NFC authentication, and engage consumers through connected products.
The Victory at SFS ExtraTime 2025 and Current Positioning
Stepping up the pace, clarifying their core focus, and embarking on a clear growth path are the key factors that enabled Authentica to shift its positioning—moving away from pure Web3 toward practical blockchain-based solutions (powered by WoV Labs) designed for the development of a Digital Product Passport.
Following their victory at SFS ExtraTime 2025, the company underwent a complete rebranding and launched its mobile app, continually improving the usability of both sports and non-sports products while making them far more accessible for everyday consumers. The mobile app has radically simplified consumer interaction with product authenticity, opening up a direct line of communication.
Through this evolution, Authentica now stands as the ideal bridge between the digital ecosystem and physical club items, turning a simple purchase into a secure, certified, and engaging experience. It’s a vision shared by several Italian football clubs, including Empoli Calcio, which has collaborated with Authentica for years based on shared values of innovation, transparency, and digital fan engagement.
Encrypted Tags and ESPR Regulations
The platform’s strength relies on an “NFC-first” architecture, which integrates hardware-grade cryptographic tags (such as NTAG DNA chips) directly into official club gear and merchandise, making every single item impossible to clone or counterfeit.
Natively aligned with the latest European ESPR (Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation) standards, this ecosystem generates a unique, real-time encrypted URL with every scan. Through this approach, Authentica not only safeguards intellectual property and sports clubs’ revenue streams, but also enables full product lifecycle mapping—from manufacturing to ownership transfers and end-of-life management. At the same time, it provides brands with detailed dashboards on scan patterns and fan engagement behavior.
Authentica is proof that true innovation doesn’t erase passion—it simply makes it chip-proof. And the best, without a doubt, is yet to come.
Authentica: The Winner of SFS ExtraTime 2025
Ahead of SFS 26 and the new ExtraTime start-up competition, the spotlight turns back onto the finalists of the Social Football Summit 2025: companies with different ideas and perspectives, but all united by the same drive to grow and innovate within their industry. A year after the last edition, each start-up has successfully consolidated its market positioning or enhanced its product offering, confirming a shared trajectory—the ability to evolve, stay agile, and effectively respond to the industry’s emerging needs. A standout
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