Who\'s ever heard of Harunustaspor? Two days ago, no-one but football enthusiasts in Turkey. Today, January 31st, the name is all over the news. Harunustaspor, an amateur Turkish football club, made a bid for global recognition yesterday when they paid a new player in bitcoin. They claim to be the first club ever to have signed a player using cryptocurrency.

The rewards were not huge. Ömer Faruk KıroÄŸlu was given a mere 0.0524 in BTC (worth £381.73 or US$540.90 at press time), He also received an additional 2,500 in Turkish lira (£470.38 or $666.51) to sign with the club, who are competing in Group B of Turkey\'s Sakarya First Division.

Club chairman Haldun Sehit freely admitted that they did it for the publicity. In an interview with Turkey\'s CNN Türk, he said they did it \"to make a name for ourselves\" both within Turkey and in the outside world. KıroÄŸlu himself added that it was something new in the sport: \"a first for me and for the world.\"

Last week, London\'s premier league football club, Arsenal, signed a sponsorship agreement with an online gambling company using cryptocurrency coins, while Barcelona\'s star player Leo \"the Flea\" Messi is promoting Sirin Labs\' new blockchain-based Finney-phone.