FC Barcelona blir med i eFootball.Pro og Konami-ligaen

Konami og eFootball.Pro skal holde en esportkonkurranse i fremtiden, og nå har vi funnet ut at FC Barcelona er den første fotballklubben som blir med i konkurransen, hvilket betyr at de bidrar med et profesjonelt lag som skal konkurrere mot andre internasjonale motstandere.

"Barça is attentive to what is happening in this global and technological world, and given the major penetration and growth of esports, is on the path to also becoming a leader in this field," sa Manel Arroyo, visepresident for markedsføring og media ved FC Barcelona. "FC Barcelona, in keeping with its innovative spirit, has decided to participate in a pioneering competition in the world of esports, alongside the finest partners, Konami and eFootball.Pro. We are sure that this competition will continue to make Barça members and fans that follow esports around the world very proud'. The professionals that form the blaugrana esports team will challenge their opponents using the KONAMI football video game series."

Som du kanskje husker har Barcelona-forsvarsspiller, Gerard Piqué, vist interesse for esport tidligere, og eFootball er faktisk hans prosjekt. Det ble lansert i mars i fjor, og han sa da at målet er å "apply all that makes traditional football the king of sports to electronic football, to esports. 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."

Jonas Lygaard, Senior Director av Brand & Business Development for Konami Digital Entertainment B.V., la til: "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."

Dette er bare første steg for konkurransen, flere detaljer og medlemmer blir offentliggjort etter hvert. Men det virker passende at FC Barcelona er den første klubben som blir med, spesielt siden Piqué spiller på laget, og han uttrykte for et års tid siden at han kunne se for seg et Barcelona esportlag i fremtiden.