A Night With Legends: Gate.io & FC Internazionale Milano Celebrate Partnership
An official signing ceremony formalized Gate.io’s status as the Official Sleeve Partner of Inter for the 24/25 season, an exciting milestone previously announced in August.
Dr. Lin Han, Founder and CEO of Gate.io, delivered a keynote on Gate.io’s innovative blockchain solutions, addressing both current and historical security issues in the blockchain space. His speech also covered key blockchain and crypto market trends.
Luca Danovaro, Chief Revenue Officer of FC Internazionale Milano, discussed the partnership’s strategic importance in the digital age, before former Inter Milan captain Andrea Ranocchia recounted his memories of playing for the club for 12 years.
An excerpt from the Q&A is below.
Dr. Lin Han, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Gate.io
Q: Can you describe the significance of this partnership?
A: We are very glad to have this partnership with Inter. This is the first time we have a very serious partnership in the sports industry. We are very excited about that. The partnership will give us more awareness, give us more exposure internationally. We can also help them on the blockchain technology side.
Q: Can you share the strategic reasons behind Gate.io’s decision to establish this partnership?
A: People outside of the crypto world, they don’t know this. We want to let people know that actually they can do much more using crypto. They can even buy coffee using our service! So that’s why we are thinking we need more awareness, exposure for the people there. So, the partnership with Inter can help us to achieve this target.
Q: Does Gate.io have further plans in the sports industry?
A: Oh, sure. You know, this is the first and very important one, and we are learning from it. Yeah, we’re learning, you know, what we can do together, how we can work together, how we can do this better, right? We are learning from them, and we see that the experience is very helpful for us. We can also do more partnerships with other kind of sports like tennis, golf or other ones, maybe Formula One too. So, yeah, we are looking for that for sure.
Luca Danovaro, Chief Revenue Officer, FC Internazionale Milano
Q: From the perspective of FC Internazionale Milano, how does your partnership with Gate.io enhance the fan experience?
A: Well, as Dr. Lin Han said, we’re very glad. We found a leader in the sector of crypto, Web3. We were looking for this, and to have a partnership with them – it is not just a normal partnership, but they are part of our jersey, so that’s part of our DNA. And this is going to be a historic partner, because we’re going to be in our archives forever. On the other hand, we think that we need to engage with our fans daily. We need to try to propose something different to the new generation. And thanks to Gate.io, we want to develop something that is very interesting for the young generation.
Q: What will fan engagement be like online and offline?
A: We do different things daily. I would say that the people that are close to our city, with them it is more kind of offline because they come to the game. So we need to give them a unique experience there. For example, if we talk about ticketing, we can develop something linked to NFT that the tickets just after the game can have another value. You can do other things, open experiences, open opportunities for the fans.
Q: How important is it for FC Internazionale Milano to stay ahead with emerging technologies like blockchain?
A: That’s one of the reasons we’re sitting here today. Innovation is one of our values since the beginning. When you’re a football club, you need to be innovative on the pitch – in the way you train and the way you compete. When you talk about off the pitch, what does it mean to be an innovator? We want to create something that other football clubs can say, well, look, Inter and Gate.io they have created some new experiences or some fan engagement, or some new way to increase revenue, or some new way to develop merchandise together.
Andrea Ranocchia, former Inter captain
Q: You’ve experienced many memorable moments throughout your football career. Could you share one of the most unforgettable highlights during your Inter days?
A: I’m lucky, because I played with Inter for 12 years. I won not a lot of trophies. When I speak about Inter, I speak with love, with energy, with passion, and I love this society, this club, and all the people that work inside.
Q: In your time at Inter, you were praised for your leadership. Based on your experience, in what aspects does a captain play an important role within the team, on and off the pitch?
A: Fortunately, I was a captain for one year. And I took the armband from (Javier) Zanetti, and I learned. I learned a lot from and the next year, I tried to give to the new players and the young players the value of this big club.
Q: What do you think is the most important quality or characteristic for a player representing Inter? What words best embody the spirit of Inter?
A: I think Inter is the family, and you have to do everything for the Inter coach and to win the trophy. I don’t know what you think, but I gave to Inter love, I gave to Inter passion, I gave to Inter all my body, all my mind. And this is for me, the best thing that you can do for the club.
