German football league to partner with eSports publisher EA Sports

E-Sports games publisher EA Sports has teamed with the German Football League (DFL) on a project to launch an eSports tournament for clubs in both the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2.

The eSports tournament is likely to have teams from the two Liga tiers playing the latest FIFA with the support of the game publisher.

Christian Seifert, CEO of the DFL, said this week: “eSport is highly popular among the younger generations, it has almost become part of everyday culture – in Germany and far beyond. With this as a background, it is a right decision that clubs and the DFL further expand their engagement in this area.

“It is a matter of shaping the future and responding to changes in media consumption and leisure time in the digital age.”

In January this year, the Virtual Bundesliga joined the Road to the FIFA eWorld Cup. This development follows reports that the German Football Association (DFB) – the governing body for football in Germany – is partnering up with marketing agency Infront and eSports agency Stark to create its own eSports league (see previous report).

In that project, 11 German clubs have signed players to represent them in eSports, including VfL Bochum 1848, 1. FC Nürnberg, VfB Stuttgart, Hertha BSC, VfL Wolfsburg and FC Schalke 04.

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