January 25 – The rise and rise of esports has been accompanied by a ballooning in esports player salaries. With football clubs increasingly looking to associate with competitive gamers the cost of entry is going up’
January 18 – Germany’s FC Köln has bought into esports team SK Gaming alongside sponsor Mercedes-Benz. No value was given for the investment.
December 28 – The boom in football leagues, federations and clubs entering the esports market is only scratching the surface of the potential of the business if you look at the volumes of prize money paid out in eSports competitions over 2018.
December 20 –Germany’s DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga has agreed a broadcast deal with the ProSiebenSat.1 Group to air the federation’s new launch eFootball VBL Club Championship.
December 11 – Adidas have signed their first eFootball sponsorship deal focussed on the Chinese market with Olympique Lyonnais backed Lyon EDG for their FIFA Online 4 team.
November 10 – The German FA (DFL) has finalised the 22 teams that will kick off the first edition of the TAG Heuer Virtual Bundesliga (VBL) in the battle to become Germany’s first club champions in eFootball. The Bundesliga will provide 13 teams while nine will come from Bundesliga 2.
November 28 – FIFA and EA Sports have launched the first global ranking platform of eFootball players that will be based on Weekend League performances and FIFA Global Series events. The first ranking was released this week with Joksan– toping the list with 850 ranking points.
November 22 – The Norwegian FA has officially launched their six-player official esport national team that will focus on EA Sport’s FIFA and Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer games. Four players will specialise on the PlayStation platform and two on Xbox, meeting six times a year at the Ullevaal Stadium in a dedicated esport arena.
November 22 – Major League Soccer’s eports platform – eMLS – will go into its second season in 2019 with three new teams, taking the league number up to 22.
November 14 – France’s FC Nantes will complete the six-team line-up of clubs for the first season of the eFootball.Pro League, the esports competition that will be played using KONAMI’s Pro Evolution Soccer video game.
November 12 – UEFA and EA Sports have unveiled plans for the new eChampions League which will start in March 2019 with knockout competition and culminating with a final in Madrid on May 31, the day before the Champions League final.
November 5 – EA Sports has been building new league partnerships in recent months with European leagues, including the Premier League and Bundesliga, for competitive leagues in its FIFA 19 platform. Now it has partnered with 13 worldwide esports professional organisations.
October 25 – New eSports league e.Football.Pro has signed Portugal’s Boavista as the fifth participating team for Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer platform.
October 23 – Germany’s DFL will kick off its first esports league, the VBL Club Championship (Virtual Bundesliga), on the EA Sports FIFA 19 platform in January next year. Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 teams have until December 21 to register teams.
October 22 – Paris Saint-Germain has expanded its esports division partnership with Chinese esports organisation LGD Gaming to form a FIFA Online team as it builds its brand presence on the continent.