Portuguese footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Singaporean billionaire, Peter Lim, intend to "link" soccer fans and professionals on a single platform, ZujuGP. This is an emerging digital community built around soccer, run by Kiat Lim, Peter Lim's son, and led by CR7.

The startup aims to boost communication and commerce on the platform already with four billion fans, allowing them to watch live games virtually, buy merchandise, interact with players, and bet. It also aims to make it easier for club owners, agents and scouts to discover and develop talented players.

C. Ronaldo and P. Lim (president of Valencia and holder of Cristiano Ronaldo's business titles) broached the subject a while ago, but the pandemic delayed the implementation of the plan. However, the year was a time that served for them to perfect the idea. Thus, they plan to beta test it in the first half of next year.

ZujuGP promises a lot. ZujuGamePlay will be an immersive platform for fans to watch games together and collaborate "in a fully functioning economy that spans the real and digital worlds." The company calls it a "footballverse," much in the vein of the metaverse visions formulated by companies like Facebook Inc. and Epic Games Inc.

ZujuGP Exchange will offer a hiring platform where talent, professionals and hiring clubs can do business. The company says it will power it with artificial intelligence and will protect it with blockchain technology. ZujuGP Rank, finally, will be a digital soccer academy that offers performance coaching and specialized exercises.

"Zuju" is a play on the name "Cucu", which means "Kick". Its origin is "Cuju," an ancient Chinese game considered to be the oldest recorded form of soccer.