February 28 – The new eSports league being launched by video game maker Konami and Spanish-based eFootball.Pro have signed Barcelona as their first professional team to the league which will be played on the Pro-Evolution Soccer (PES) game.
Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué, who is president and founder of marketing agency and league promoter eFootball.Pro, said: “As a player, I’m glad that my club has decided to enter eSports and joined this innovative project that we are preparing together with Konami. Barça will be able to contribute its values to the competition and I’m sure that it will be a great rival for the rest of the teams.
“On our part, from eFootball.Pro we will join the club in its new adventure in this digital world and we will guide it so it gets to excite its fans as it does with the rest of sports.”
Konami announced its hook-up with eFootball.Pro to create an international league last November.
The race to create credible football-based e-sports leagues is on with Konami running a little behind EA Sports’ FIFA game and its dominance of the space.
Last September Konami signed a deal with the UEFA Champions League to make its PES League World Tour 2018 the official UEFA Champions League eSports competition. The Pro2018 World Tour will hold a number of offline events starting from winter of 2017 and running until spring of 2018.
Jonas Lygaard, Senior Director – Brand & Business Development for Konami Digital Entertainment, said of the Barca entry: ‘We are extremely excited to have one of the biggest clubs in the world, FC Barcelona, joining the league and for the first time entering the eSports market on the Pro Evolution Soccer platform. This partnership elevates things to a new and professional level and gives fans a chance to compete and officially represent FC Barcelona on the biggest stages in the world’.
More teams are expected to be unveiled soon.
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