March 24 – LaLiga said that more than a million total viewers tuned in to its charity FIFA 20 Challenge esports tournament over the weekend, with more than 170,000 viewers watching as Real Madrid striker Marco Asensio beat Leganés player Aitor Ruibal to claim the title.
March 20 – Spanish players will be in action this weekend but it will be in the virtual world of esports rather than the physical world of LaLiga.
February 13 – Germany’s Bundesliga is using eFootball to drive the league deeper into international markets with the launch of the Virtual Bundesliga International Series.
February 12 – InterMilan have become the latest club to set up its own esports team, signing two players in a collaboration with QLASH.
February 5 – The world of eSports has attracted another high profile team entrant from the world of football, but this time it is a player rather than a club. Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale has launched a new eSports team called Ellevens Esports.
February 3 – FIFA’s eNations Cup 2020 will be hosted in Copenhagen by the Danish Football Association (DBU) May 22-24. It will be the first time the finals have been played in front of a live audience.
January 15 – Milan will be the host city for the FIFA eClub World Cup 2020 finals that will be played February 7-9, the first time the finals have been held in Italy.
January 13 – While the MLS season doesn’t kick off until the end of February, its eSports equivalent has already kicked off with the first stage of 2020 eMLS competition played this weekend in Philadelphia.
By Paul Nicholson
January 8 – Olympique Lyonnais (OL) are the latest European Big 5 league club to formalise and expand its professional e-sports operation to compete under the club’s name on a variety of game platforms as well as the FIFA platform.
December 29 – Roma, Basel, Man City, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Olympique Lyonais lead the club branded qualifiers for the FIFA eClub World Cup 2020 finals to be be played February 7-9.
December 16 – Olympic esports took a tentative step towards becoming a reality with the IOC suggesting that simulation games based on the actual sport (rather than ‘killer games’) could be included in the Olympic programme.
December 10 – German Champions FC Bayern Munich are the latest club to enter Konami’s eFootball.Pro League, joining other newcomer Manchester United for the second season of the esports competition that begins December 14.
November 19 – With the MLS having just completed its regular season, the eMLS has announced its competitive schedule for 2020 that will begin in January 2020, a couple of months before action on the pitch kicks off.
November 1 – FIFA’s esports division has unveiled its qualification process for the returning eNations Cup and eClub World Cup as well as the pathway to the eWorld Cup 2020.
By Paul Nicholson
October 31 – The esports business is expected to generate $1 billion of income this year, rising to $5 billion annually in five years time. It is an income growth wave that football has been keen to catch, but a report by the KPMG Football Benchmark team argues that the attraction of football to esports should not be solely about revenue generation.