GKS Katowice soccer club accepting Bitcoin

A professional soccer club from the south of Poland has become the first to accept Bitcoin.

This means fans can now pay for merchandise and tickets to matches with the digital currency. BitcoinWarrior quotes GKS Katowice coach Wojciech Cygan as saying, “We want to be innovative and to show our fans that we have great ambitions to be one of the best football clubs around.”

Cygan also noted that Bitcoin allows fans to deal direct with the club, buying tickets in a straight wallet-to-wallet transaction.

Team press officer Marcin Cwikta backed up that statement. “This is another example of GieKSa looking to the future and rapidly entering a new era.”

Note that “GieKSa” is simply what people call the club in everyday speech. The club is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and the Bitcoin announcement comes as part of the club’s Week of GieKSa celebrations.

As we reported last month, the NBA’s Sacramento Kings were way out ahead of the pack in adopting Bitcoin, and only now other professional teams are slowly beginning to follow suit.