Finnish football club Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho (“SJK”) has expanded its esports offering to now include Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
The club signed Juho ”Koppinen” Järveläksi to represent them in FIFA back in January but the acquisition of a CS:GO team is something different altogether.
The roster is five Finnish players who have achieved fairly good results in the local scene at local tournaments. This article from Finnish publication Ilta Sanomat suggests that the team have practiced for the first time under the SJK banner. The team is set to complete in a multitude of online tournaments, yet are unlikely to don the shirts of SJK and compete in an offline tournament until June or at Kajaani’s tournament in July.
This news comes just after the Nordic Esports Academy revealed their new summer school and tournament that will run over the summer. It’s an initiative setup by Kajaani University of Applied Sciences, in collaboration with Vuokatti Ruska Sports Academy.
The firm is running a series of lectures, workshops and coaching sessions on a full time basis in Kajaani for 80 to 100 students from the 12th June to the 6th July. There will also be a three day CS:GO tournament in the nearby town of Vuokatti following this to bring it to a close. You can apply either individually or in groups of up to five. the coaching element will be focused on CS:GO but the general training is aimed at helping esports players and teams across the board.
Esports Insider says: Good to see SJK expanding from FIFA into CS:GO as they look to grow their esports footprint. They’re in at the grass roots level as well which is good to see.