December 15 – The MLS esports league, eMLS, has released detail of its 2022 season which will feature all 27 MLS teams and a return to live events with three marquee tournaments hosted in-person at MLS stadiums.
December 3 – AS Monaco has agreed a two-year partnership with software game developer Strikerz Inc, to make its soon-to-launch online football game UFL, the club’s Official Football Gaming Supplier.
December 2 – Holland’s Eredivisie is partnering with esports operator DreamHack Sports Games (DHSG) to create an esports gaming festival that will be hosted Sports in Maastricht.
November 24 – The United Soccer League (USL), operator of second and third tier professional leagues in the US, has struck a multi-year deal with Konami Digital Entertainment that will see its teams and players featured in its revamped eFootball video game franchise.
November 3 – Inter Milan will launch their own esports platform this Friday (November 5) with the start of the Inter Esports Cup. The inauguration of the esports competition and platform comes during Italy’s biggest esports event, the Milan Games Week & Cartoomics.
October 21 – The blurring of ‘sporting’ boundaries and rights ownership that eSports throw up is brought sharply into focus again today with the EA Sports-sanctioned FIFA 22 Challenge.
By Paul Nicholson
October 18 – With EA Sports review of its FIFA license increasingly looking like bringing an end to its FIFA branded game at the end of the current rights cycle, FIFA has issued a statement saying that it will be widening its own gaming and eSports portfolio.
September 30 – One international match calendar FIFA is having no trouble expanding is its esports programme. Electronic Arts have announced a further growth of its competition ecosystem for the launch of the FIFA 22 game next month.
July 30 – E-sports team Evil Geniuses have sold a minority stake to Premier League Wolverhampton Wanderers and their Chinese ownersFosun. No value or percentage was given for the stake in Evil Geniuses.
July 1 – German football club Schalke 04 has completed the sale of its esports team, League of Legends European Championship licence, to Swiss organisation Team BDS for €26.5 million.
April 27 – A survey of eFootball activity within 35 European federations has found that 92% of FAs plan to field their own eNational teams in 2021 with 83% planning their own tournaments and leagues.
April 23 – The Premier League is is launching ePremier League in China this monthin partnership with it broadcast license holder Tencent Sports, Tencent Gaming and EA SPORTS.
April 16 – FIFA has announced total of 60 national teams will participate in the FIFAe Nations Series 2021 with the final to take place from August 20-22 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
March 22 – FIFA have caught the esports bug, and the revenue wave its FIFA21 video game has brought, and launched another new competition this weekend.
March 17 – The eSports football season is hotting up with UEFA’s eEuro 2021 qualifiers having started on Monday and the eMLS Cup finals in the US starting this weekend.