The growing connection between football and Esports

There are a lot of ways in which esports and football can work together and we’ve seen a lot of teams fully embrace the digital age.

With esports getting millions of viewers on the top events, it is easy to see why football teams don’t want to get left behind and plan to appeal to the huge swathes of people heading to watch esports.

Of course, the two aren’t mutually exclusive and people can be huge football fans while still watching esports like Valorant or Dota.

 

The gambling connection

Football and esports are connected in one way, through the gambling companies so heavily involved in both.

Betting has been a big part of football for decades and while people used to have to go to bookmakers to place their bets, they can now use the internet for this.

The same sites offering sports markets may also offer live esports betting as this is another option for sports fans to wager.

Esports has followed the way football works in terms of gambling. People can bet on teams as well as individual markets in some esports and this works in the same way that football does.

In football, someone might bet on a player to have a shot on target or score a goal, and sometimes the individual points scored or performances by single players can also be gambled on during esports tournaments.

Gambling connects a lot of sports and enables way more coverage in terms of statistics and streaming. Esports may be a newcomer to the scene (compared to sports that are hundreds of years old) but they’re very popular. 

 

Football stars getting into Esports

Something that is always valuable to games trying to get some traction is when existing stars get involved.

Sports stars may have Instagram followers in the millions of people and their involvement can lead these people to the games growing.

Mesut Özil, a former Arsenal and Real Madrid star launched his own esports team, M10 Esports, in 2018.

His team competes in popular games like FIFA, showing how footballers are keen to extend their influence beyond the pitch and into the digital world – they competed in Fortnite as well as some other events before the team stopped operating.

Sergio Agüero, the former Manchester City striker, is known for his passion for gaming.

He regularly streams his gameplay on platforms like Twitch, where he engages with fans and fellow gamers.

His involvement in esports adds a layer of connection between football and the gaming community, and this has largely come through the game Valorant.

The Argentinian star’s former teammate Lionel Messi is co-owner of his Valorant esports team, which helps boost the profile.

Probably the best player of all time, Messi’s involvement with Valorant helps to keep people playing the game and adds more eyeballs to the total for the tournaments.

Messi himself is still playing at the top level of football, but who knows, maybe he will have a go at some of the esports himself once his glittering football career is over.

Valorant players need to keep their fingers on the pulse as the game is constantly evolving with new updates as we have seen recently:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WCXySCFcp4E

 

Football clubs embracing Esports

Football clubs themselves have also recognized the potential of esports. Many top-tier clubs now have their own esports divisions, which compete in various gaming tournaments.

This trend reflects the clubs' desire to engage with more tech-savvy fans who may be more used to watching games like Valorant or Fortnite.

Clubs like Paris Saint-Germain and FC Barcelona have established esports teams that primarily focus on FIFA, the football game that has become a global phenomenon (it has now rebranded to EA24).

These teams compete in international tournaments, representing their clubs in the digital realm much like their traditional football counterparts do on the field – it may seem a little unusual, but it works well and plenty of footy fans also make the leap and watch esports tournaments.

As part of FIFA’s rebranding, FC Pro Open is the new esports arm and one of the examples of sports sims being popular (and profitable).

There’s a trophy and a $1 million prize pool that has been offered as part of the FC Pro Open Competitions.

Salaries still have some way until they match those that some of the Premier League’s stars are earning of course with some of the stars of big teams rumored to be on millions every single month.

 

Conclusion

As you can see, there’s really no reason football and esports can’t exist in harmony, and not just in football games.

Valorant and other big esports games have seen involvement from top players and this has helped to boost the profile of big esports events.