One of the largest football clubs in Russia, Spartak Moscow, have made their move in esports with rosters in CS:GO, Dota 2 and League of Legends.
The club already has a FIFA player (Sergei “KEFIR” Nikiforov) on its books but this is a far broader and more exciting move. In a move akin to Fnatic and AS Roma, Rush3D will represent the club in CS:GO. This is a somewhat surprising move as Rush 3D are not particularly established nor well known.
When it comes to the MOBAs, Spartak appear to be going for experience. As first reported by Dot Esports, Team Empire, an organisation based in Moscow which has been in existence since 2004, seems to be the one which will be acquired.
In a move which left little to the imagination, unless it was a deliberate red herring, the organisation published and tweeted the release by Spartak Esports on April 19th. Moreover, MGO Empire LLC, the company behind Team Empire, registered the Spartak.gg site.
Новый состав @spartakesports https://t.co/6e84eneDfN
— Team Empire (@team_empire) April 19, 2017
The Spartak GG site is a great visit in terms of illustration and gives a top delivery by way of introduction. With the site in Russian we’re lax on details but a press conference with the full story is expected in the imminent future.
Spartak Moscow are amongst the first Russian clubs to enter esports properly, though FC Anzhi signed Dota 2 player XBOCT, formerly of Na’Vi and Team Empire and popular in the CIS. We’ve heard little more of this story since this announcement in March.
Esports Insider says: With three of the established tier one titles in the mixer for Spartak, a flash website and the pending acquisition of one well versed organisation, this is the most exciting entry by a football club into esports since PSG. Let’s hope it pans out well.