UE Cornellà, a Spanish football team that competes in the third tier of competition has entered esports in partnership with Qwatti eSports Agency.
UE Cornellà are better known in the Spanish ranks for bringing through talent in the lower echelons of Spanish football, with notable names such as Keita Baldé and Jordi Alba once appearing on the club’s books. The release states the club will enter esports “with the main objective of being a reference academy, just as it is in football”.
The Spanish club will pick up teams in the following games:
- FIFA;
- League of Legends;
- Hearthstone;
- Clash Royale.
To get the proverbial ball rolling, the team will organise a FIFA 18 tournament that has an online component followed by an offline stage where the top eight players will compete at the 1,500 capacity UE Cornellà stadium in December. The online registration of the tournament will end on December 1st and the first rounds will be held between December 1st and 3rd, with the offline component to be played between 6-8 December.
In December, UE Cornellà will also launch an online tournament for League of Legends. The best 10 players in the online phase will take part in a bootcamp, with fans being able to vote for their favourite players – and “surveys and video interviews done”.
Alejandro Talavera - President of UE Cornellà stated: “For UE Cornella it is important to grow in all those sections that increase our fan base. We also understand that football clubs have to position themselves within eSports and help professionalize this sport. We strongly believe eSports is a sector that will create opportunities for all those young people who want to train and dream of becoming professionals in this sport. Our goal in the medium term is to become a leading academy in the eSports sector, in the same way that we have achieved it in football.”
Esports Insider says: Interesting to see Cornella come into esports. We’ll be keeping an eye on their activity over coming months as it seems they’ll be busy. That’s another club to add to the ever-growing list.