Abstract Football is the most popular sport across Africa, offering immense potential as a pathway for youth empowerment, economic development, and social cohesion. However, young African footballers face significant barriers to realizing their professional dreams. These include limited access to global scouting networks, lack of transparency in contracts and career progression, exploitation by intermediaries, and insufficient grassroots support. These systemic challenges hinder talent discovery, fair compensation, and sustainable career development. "Leveling the Pitch: Blockchain Solutions for Fair and Open Football Careers in Africa" proposes a decentralized platform built on the Cardano blockchain to address these challenges by creating transparent, accessible, and equitable career pathways for young footballers. Leveraging Cardano’s scalable, secure, and sustainable proof-of-stake blockchain, the project aims to empower players, clubs, academies, and communities through verifiable digital identities, transparent contracts, and tokenized incentives.

Sustainability The "Leveling the Pitch" platform is designed for long-term viability through a multi-faceted sustainability strategy. This begins with tokenomics that incentivize participation, allocating a percentage of transaction fees to a community-managed treasury. This treasury funds ongoing development, platform maintenance, and community initiatives. The project will also establish partnerships with football clubs, academies, and sports organizations to generate revenue through premium services such as advanced player analytics, scouting tools, and secure contract management. Furthermore, the platform will explore philanthropic funding and grants focused on youth development and sports equity. Over time, the governance of the platform will transition to a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), ensuring community stakeholders—players, clubs, and fans—have the power to shape the platform's future. This inclusive approach secures both financial viability and social impact, creating a sustainable ecosystem that empowers young African footballers for generations.

Problem Statement Unnecessary processes, limited infrastructure, and financial exclusion characterize the African football ecosystem. Talented youth often lack verifiable records of their achievements, face exploitative contracts, and are disconnected from global opportunities. Grassroots organizations and academies struggle with funding and governance, limiting their ability to nurture talent effectively. This results in lost potential, economic inefficiencies, and social inequities.

Proposed Solution The project will develop a decentralized application (dApp) on Cardano that enables:

• Digital Identity & Career Profiles: Footballers can create secure, verifiable digital profiles recording their achievements, statistics, and contract history.
• Transparent Smart Contracts: Clubs, agents, and players engage through smart contracts that automate agreements, payments, and royalties, reducing exploitation and ensuring fairness.
• Tokenized Incentives: Create native token system to incentivize performance, fan engagement, and community support, fostering sustainable economic models.
• Community & Grassroots Empowerment: Tools for academies and local clubs to manage talent, raise funds transparently, and engage with stakeholders.
• Global Network Access: Connect African footballers directly with scouts, clubs, sponsors, and fans worldwide, bypassing traditional gatekeepers.

Implementation Plan The project will be executed in phases:

• Research & Community Engagement: Collaborating with football academies, players, agents, and local organizations to refine requirements and build trust.
• Platform Development: Building and testing the dApp, including smart contracts, identity management, and tokenomics.
• Pilot Program: Launching pilots in selected African regions to validate the platform, gather feedback, and optimize user experience.
• Scaling & Partnerships: Expanding to additional regions, integrating with global football networks, and onboarding sponsors and investors.
• Education & Capacity Building: Conducting workshops and training to empower users and stakeholders with blockchain literacy and platform use.

Expected Outcomes

• Enhanced career transparency and fairness for thousands of young African footballers.
• Increased economic opportunities and reduced exploitation.
• Strengthened grassroots football ecosystems with improved governance and funding.
• Broadened Cardano adoption and ecosystem growth through a high-impact, culturally relevant use case.
• A replicable model for decentralized sports career management applicable beyond football and Africa.

Benefits to the Cardano Community This project exemplifies Cardano’s mission to drive real-world impact through decentralized technologies. It will: Showcase Cardano’s scalability, security, and sustainability in a globally popular industry. Grow the Cardano user base by onboarding footballers, clubs, fans, and sponsors. Strengthen community governance through open-source collaboration and decentralized decision-making. Position Cardano as a leader in blockchain solutions for sports and youth empowerment. Conclusion "Leveling the Pitch" is a powerful way to use blockchain to make football more fair and open for everyone in Africa. It will help young players get noticed, give communities more support, and bring more chances to those who need them most. It will also support Cardano’s goal of building a future that includes everyone and gives people more control over their paths.

Unnecessary processes, limited infrastructure, and financial exclusion characterize the African football ecosystem. Talented youth often lack verifiable records of their achievements, face exploitative contracts, and are disconnected from global opportunities. Grassroots organizations and academies struggle with funding and governance, limiting their ability to nurture talent effectively. This results in lost potential, economic inefficiencies, and social inequities.

Talented young African footballers often struggle to access global scouting networks and professional opportunities. The football industry’s wealth and opportunities are concentrated in Europe and other established markets, leaving African talent footballers overlooked and isolated from international exposure and fair career progression. Very often, these young athletes are vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous intermediaries and agents who take advantage of their lack of resources and industry knowledge. There are significant financial barriers for the youth to develop their careers, including limited access to quality training, infrastructure, and fair representation. Many footballers are trapped in inefficient systems that do not reward their talent or provide equitable pathways to success. Unavailability of verifiable, trusted records of their achievements, statistics, and contracts makes it difficult for clubs, sponsors, and scouts to assess talent objectively and for players to prove their value on a global stage. Grassroots football in Africa suffers from underinvestment and poor governance, limiting the ability of communities to nurture and promote young talent. There is a need for tools and ecosystems that empower academies, clubs, and local organizations to drive development and economic growth.

How Blockchain Solves These Problems Decentralization removes the reliance on intermediaries, allowing direct connections between players, clubs, sponsors, and fans. Blockchain ensures that contracts, achievements, and transactions are verifiable and tamper-proof, reducing exploitation and building trust. Another area which is tokenization and digital identity enable new funding models, such as direct sponsorship, fan tokens, or fractional investment in talent, and provide players with portable, verifiable records of their careers.

Benefits to the Cardano Community This project demonstrates Cardano’s utility in solving real, high-visibility challenges showing how blockchain can transform industries and empower individuals, especially in emerging markets. By onboarding footballers, clubs, fans, and sponsors, Cardano gains new users and developers. The open-source nature of the project allows other communities to adapt and expand on the solution, further growing Cardano’s reach. Football’s massive popularity in Africa and globally means this project brings Cardano into the daily lives of millions, increasing brand visibility, adoption, and positive perception of ADA and Cardano-based solutions. By proving the value of decentralized, transparent systems in sports, this project can inspire similar initiatives in other sectors like education, health, creative industries, multiplying Cardano’s social impact.

Benefits to the African Football Community This project helps the African football community gain direct access to global networks, transparent representation, and fairer career opportunities. By building verifiable, blockchain-based profiles and certifications, young athletes can showcase their talents, connect directly with clubs, agents, and sponsors, and protect themselves from exploitation and biased intermediaries. This project can help leverage decentralized tools for talent management, transparent contracts, and fundraising. This helps academies and clubs to nurture and promote talent more effectively, fostering local economic and social development. Fans can engage more deeply through digital collectibles, fan tokens, and transparent sponsorships. Sponsors and investors gain access to reliable data and new engagement models, increasing trust and participation in African football. As football is a unifying force in Africa, the project uplifts entire communities by creating new pathways for youth empowerment, financial inclusion, and social mobility.

Return on Investment (ROI) for Cardano The project will help create a surge in new wallets and transactions as footballers, clubs, and fans join Cardano powered platforms. It will also increase open-source educational materials, smart contracts, and community resources that can be reused and built upon, lowering barriers for future projects. Through this project, Cardano will be positioned as a leader in blockchain-for-good, especially in high-growth regions like Africa. By aligning with Cardano’s core values—decentralization, transparency, and empowerment—the project strengthens the ecosystem’s reputation and resilience.

In summary: This proposal empowers young African footballers, strengthens local communities, and provides Cardano with a high-impact, scalable use case that drives adoption, innovation, and global visibility.

1. Development and Launch of Decentralized Football Career Platform Milestone: Build and deploy a blockchain-based platform on Cardano that allows young African footballers to create verifiable digital profiles, showcasing their skills, achievements, and career history. Outcome: Footballers gain control over their career data, enabling transparent representation and direct connection to clubs, agents, and sponsors. Community Benefit: Empowers players with ownership of their professional identity and reduces exploitation by intermediaries.

2. Implementation of Smart Contract-Based Transparent Agreements Milestone: Develop and integrate smart contracts to automate and enforce fair contracts, payments, and royalties between players, clubs, and other stakeholders. Outcome: Increased trust and fairness in football career dealings, reducing fraud and ensuring timely compensation. Community Benefit: Builds confidence in blockchain solutions and encourages adoption within the sports ecosystem.

3. Tokenized Incentive System Launch Milestone: Introduce a native token or loyalty system to reward player performance, fan engagement, and community participation. Outcome: Creates new economic opportunities for players and fans, fostering sustainable engagement and support. Community Benefit: Expands Cardano’s token economy and introduces innovative use cases in sports.

4. Pilot Program in Selected Country Milestone: Roll out pilot projects in targeted communities or football academies to test platform usability, gather feedback, and demonstrate impact. Outcome: Validates the solution’s effectiveness, identifies improvement areas, and builds local champions. Community Benefit: Grassroots empowerment and real-world proof of Cardano’s impact on African youth and sports.

5. Educational and Capacity-Building Initiatives Milestone: Develop and deliver blockchain literacy workshops, training materials, and community engagement campaigns for players, clubs, and stakeholders. Outcome: Enhances understanding and adoption of blockchain technology within the football community. Community Benefit: Builds a knowledgeable user base that can sustain and expand the ecosystem.

6. Open-Source Release of Educational and Technical Resources Milestone: Publish all educational content, training materials, and platform code under open licenses. Outcome: Enables other communities, developers, and educators to adapt and build upon the resources. Community Benefit: Fosters innovation, collaboration, and scalability across Africa and beyond.

7. Measurement and Reporting of Impact Metrics Milestone: Establish quantitative and qualitative metrics such as number of players onboarded, contracts managed, tokens distributed, and user satisfaction. Outcome: Transparent reporting of project success and areas for growth. Community Benefit: Builds trust and accountability within the Cardano community and attracts further support.

Target State of This Tranche This tranche of the proposal aims to deliver a fully functional minimum viable product (MVP) of the decentralized football career platform with initial user onboarding, smart contract integration, and token incentives operational in a pilot country. It will also include foundational educational programs and open-source resources to support adoption and scalability.

What the Community Ultimately Receives Empowered Youth: Young African footballers gain transparent, fair, and direct access to career opportunities, reducing exploitation and opening new pathways for success. Strengthened Ecosystem: Football academies, clubs, and local organizations receive tools to manage talent and funding transparently, enhancing grassroots development. Expanded Cardano Adoption: New users, transactions, and token use cases within a culturally significant and high-visibility sector. Open Innovation: Open-source educational and technical materials that catalyze further projects and community-driven growth. Social Impact: Demonstrable improvements in youth empowerment, economic inclusion, and community cohesion aligned with Cardano’s mission.

Blockchain Development - Smart contract development, Cardano integration, tokenomics implementation, and testing - $10,000

• Blockchain Integration: Integrating the dApp with Cardano's blockchain - $10,000 Front/Back Ends Development - Integrating necessary APIs for transactions and data management, Setting up a robust backend infrastructure and UI/UX Design Creating a user-friendly interface - $25,000 Wallet Integration: Integrating a crypto wallet for transactions - $5,000. Security Audits: External smart contract and platform security audits to ensure robustness and safety - $15,000. Community Engagement and Outreach/Training: Engaging with local communities and stakeholders - $20,000 Pilot Program Implementation: Deployment in target region, user acquisition, feedback collection, and iterative improvements - $8,000 Project Management & Coordination: Workshops, training materials, onboarding sessions, and ongoing user support - $10,000 Marketing & Outreach: Promotion within Cardano ecosystem and African football communities to drive adoption - $8,000.00 Operational & Infrastructure Costs: Hosting, cloud services, and maintenance during pilot and early scaling phases - $5,000.00 Contingency & Miscellaneous: Buffer for unforeseen expenses and additional support needs $5,000. Total Cost - $121,000 approximately 242,000 ADA

• Project Manager will be responsible for Coordination, timeline, stakeholder communication-1
• Blockchain Developers will be responsible for Smart contract and blockchain integration, API development, server-side logic and dApp/web/mobile interface development - 2
• UI/UX Designer will be in charge of developing User experience and interface design - 1
• Community/Education Lead in charge of educating, User onboarding, training, community engagement- 2
• DevOps/Deployment Engineer play the role of Infrastructure, deployment, monitoring - 1
• QA/Test Engineer/Security in charge of Testing, bug tracking, quality assurance and Smart contract/code audit - 1

Total Core Team: 5 people Other roles may be part-time or consultant-based, especially security auditing and DevOps

Adwoa Asamoa: is an accounting professional with a strong interest in blockchain technology and is an active member of both the Intersect MBO and Cardano communities. She is the team lead for Leveling the Pitch, a project inspired by her passion for football and her work with young players in her community. After engaging with them, she discovered how often agents take advantage of their ambitions, which motivated her to create a fairer, blockchain-based system to support their careers. She has been involved in the Cardano ecosystem since Fund 6, serving as a Community Advisor (CA) and Community Reviewer (CR) in Funds 6 through 12. She is also an active participant in Cardano Town Halls and Twitter Spaces.

Sarbah Richmond – Full Stack Developer | Smart Contract Developer | Facilitator Sarbah Richmond is a highly skilled Full Stack Developer with hands-on experience in both front-end and back-end development. He specializes in building scalable, user-centric digital solutions and has contributed to impactful projects, including developing virtual health assistants for hospitals. An alumnus of the University of Ghana, Richmond holds a BSc in Information Technology, equipping him with a solid foundation in systems design, software engineering, and data-driven problem-solving. As a Smart Contract Developer and active member of Intersect MBO, he brings deep expertise in blockchain technologies, particularly within the Cardano ecosystem. Richmond has served as a Community Reviewer since Fund 8, actively supporting community governance and proposal evaluation. In addition to his technical roles, Richmond is an experienced Mentor, dedicated to fostering impacting his community and delivering engaging learning experiences. He is passionate about continuous learning and thrives on leveraging emerging technologies to solve real-world challenges.

Oheneba Owusu is a football scout in Ghana. He has assisted in recruiting over 40 players in various football institutions in the country. He is also a blockchain enthusiast and is very knowledgeable and vested in the things of the Cardano community. He has assisted some cardano hubs in Ghana, in the delivery of some of their onboarding projects and has some level of experience in the Cardano community. With this experience, he will help in facilitating the education of these young footballers in the field. He will again help with event organization and logistics support. He will also be in charge of educating the participants about crypto wallets and opening of wallets, particularly the Yoroi wallet.

Kwesi Yeboah is an experienced and talented footballer of the Charity Football club. His interest in Cardano played a great deal in the putting in of this proposal and he is charismatic in bringing his team onboard. With the little he has learned; he seeks to bring more people like him on board to know more about the Cardano communities and the opportunities it brings. Contact him on telegram @Danny123 and on twitter @Kwesi175566

Kennedy Ofosu is a Design and Multimedia Consult, where he brings over five years of experience in UI/UX design to the table. Known for creating user-centered digital experiences, he blends creativity with strategy to craft interfaces that are both functional and visually compelling. He serves as a Graphic Design Instructor at the Accra Resource Centre, where he trains aspiring designers in both the fundamentals and advanced techniques of visual communication. His combined expertise in user experience, interface design, and multimedia production makes him a versatile creative professional dedicated to impactful design.

Maintenance Strategy To ensure the long-term viability and smooth operation of the platform, a robust maintenance plan will be established. This will involve: Regular System Updates: Scheduled updates will address security vulnerabilities, fix bugs, and add new features based on community feedback and technological advancements.

Smart Contract Monitoring and Upgrades: All deployed contracts will undergo regular reviews and versioning updates to comply with emerging best practices and potential regulatory requirements.

Infrastructure Scaling: As the user base grows, backend infrastructure will be scaled accordingly to handle increased load, particularly during high-profile player events or sponsor activities.

Performance Monitoring: Continuous tracking of system metrics (uptime, latency, transaction throughput) to ensure optimal user experience and early detection of anomalies.

Support Systems A reliable support system will be implemented to ensure platform users receive help and guidance when needed: Help Desk and Ticketing System: A dedicated support team will manage user queries, bug reports, and feature requests through a streamlined ticketing system.

Knowledge Base and FAQs: Comprehensive online documentation, tutorials, and video walk-throughs will empower users to self-resolve common issues and understand platform functionalities.

Live Training & Webinars: Periodic webinars and live support sessions for academies, players, and local partners to ensure ongoing education and adoption.

Technical Support for Partners: Special DevOps and integration support will be provided to academies and sports organizations that onboard as ecosystem partners.

Community Involvement The platform’s governance and evolution will be anchored in community participation: DAO Transition Plan: As the platform matures, a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) structure will be introduced, allowing stakeholders (players, academies, fans) to propose, vote on, and fund platform improvements.

Open Source Contribution: The codebase and resources will be made open-source, enabling community developers to contribute features, plugins, or tools that enhance the ecosystem.

Feedback Loops: Regular feedback surveys, forums, and Discord channels will be maintained to gather insights directly from users, and integrate them into development cycles.

Youth Ambassadors & Local Champions: These roles will help promote the platform in grassroots communities and act as liaisons between developers and the football community.

Conclusion The proposal includes a comprehensive post-development maintenance and support plan that: Ensures platform stability and continuous improvement.

Provides hands-on support for players and partners.

Fosters community ownership and co-governance through a DAO.

Draws on proven global and African models for sustainable impact and technical resilience.

This strategy will position “Leveling the Pitch” not just as a tool for football transformation, but as a living, evolving ecosystem that supports youth empowerment and Cardano ecosystem growth for years to come.

Timeline Weeks 1–4: Preparation & Requirements Gathering Conduct stakeholder workshops and interviews

Gather and document business, technical, and user requirements

Develop initial technical architecture and project plan

Assign roles and responsibilities to project team

Weeks 5–8: Design & Prototyping Develop UI/UX wireframes and user flows

Create interactive platform mockups and prototypes

Review and iterate designs with stakeholders

Finalize design specifications for development

Weeks 9–20: Development (MVP) Set up development environments and repositories

Develop smart contracts and blockchain integrations

Build backend infrastructure and APIs

Develop frontend user interface

Integrate token and payment systems

Conduct weekly code reviews and sprint demos

Maintain regular progress tracking and reporting

Weeks 21–26: Testing & Security Audit Conduct comprehensive QA testing (unit, integration, system)

Identify and fix bugs and performance issues

Perform security audits and vulnerability assessments

Implement security recommendations and retest

Prepare test reports and sign-off for pilot launch

Weeks 27–30: Pilot Launch & Feedback Onboard initial users and provide training

Monitor platform usage and collect user feedback

Track impact metrics and user engagement

Address critical issues and iterate based on feedback

Weeks 31–33: Documentation & Training Develop user guides and onboarding materials

Conduct workshops and training sessions for end-users and support staff

Finalize technical and operational documentation back cycles.

Key Influencing Factors The project’s complexity, number of integrations, and depth of features will affect both team size and duration. Security and testing are critical—blockchain projects require thorough audits and QA to avoid costly errors. Community engagement and education are essential for adoption, so a dedicated lead or part-time specialist is recommended.

Cardano’s Strategic Focus on Africa and Community Building Cardano Africa Academy and Community Hubs - Initiatives like the Cardano Africa Academy and Catalyst Africa Town Halls foster grassroots engagement and education, signaling strong community infrastructure and support for projects empowering African youth through blockchain. Strengthen Cardano’s Presence in Africa - Cardano’s ongoing campaigns to increase its presence at major African events, workshops, and news coverage further validate the community’s commitment to supporting local innovation and youth-focused initiatives. Widespread Ecosystem Support - Cardano’s strategy in Africa, as highlighted by EMURGO and Input Output, is to drive adoption through real-world use cases, focusing on youth, education, and decentralized applications. This aligns perfectly with the proposal’s objectives. Open-Source Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing - Both football-focused and broader African Cardano projects emphasize open-source principles, allowing for free use, adaptation, and community-driven growth. This ensures that resources, tools, and educational content can be reused and improved by others, amplifying impact and engagement. Measurable Community Impact - Projects tracking and sharing of outcomes such as the number of new wallets, ADA distributed, event participation, and qualitative shifts in awareness and sentiment towards Cardano. This data-driven approach demonstrates transparency, accountability, and a feedback loop with the community.

In summary: The proposal is well aligned with established, funded, and celebrated initiatives in the Cardano ecosystem. There is demonstrated community support for football-based, youth empowerment, and African-focused blockchain projects, as seen in Project Catalyst funding, open-source collaboration, and Cardano’s strategic outreach across the continent. This strong foundation provides both credibility and a collaborative network for your project to thrive.

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