Mikel Merino has a knack for showing up at exactly the right moment. The Arsenal midfielder came off the bench in the 86th minute of Spain’s World Cup quarterfinal against Belgium on July 10, 2026, and scored the winning goal two minutes later. A 2-1 victory, a place in the semifinals against France, and a small corner of the crypto market losing its collective mind.
Merino is now the only player in World Cup history to score game-winning goals in two separate knockout matches as a substitute. He did the same thing in the round of 16 against Portugal. And in the time it took for the second celebration to wind down, someone had already launched a $MERINO meme token.
From pitch to blockchain in record time
The $MERINO token appeared with a market cap of roughly $2,400. That’s not a typo. Twenty-four hundred dollars, or roughly the cost of a decent used car.
This isn’t entirely new territory. We saw similar dynamics during the 2022 World Cup, when Chiliz-backed fan tokens for national teams surged during matches. But the speed and specificity have changed. It’s no longer “buy the France fan token.” It’s “buy a token named after the guy who scored in the 88th minute.”
