Another Bundesliga club has signalled its intent to enter the esports fray as Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V (“HSV”) are set to sign a FIFA player, The Esports Observer reports.
TEO reports that at an event run by Lagardère Sports and HSV prior to a Bundesliga match, HSV’s Head of Sales and CRM Oliver Poppelbaum responded to a question about entering esports by confirming that the club’s management had approved the creation of an esports department.
Hamburg will become another Bundesliga team to enter the esports space through sport simulation, much line Hertha BSC, Leverukusen and VFL Wolfsburg who all adopted for FIFA over other esports titles. Schalke 04 are of course the exception, as they have a team competing in the European League of Legends scene.
An interesting addition to the report is that the Bundesliga team has revealed it intends to partner with schools to support “sustainable growth through education and coaching”.
Should reports be true, Hamburger will become the latest in what must be approaching 200 sports clubs and/or figures to have become involved in esports. The involvement ranges from signing FIFA players to investing in esports organisations. It’s unlikely that this is set to slow down as sports and esports continue to converge and the esports opportunity continues to be amplified.
For anyone interested in finding out more, Esports Insider’s Super Forum takes place on the 22nd March, 2018 and look at the crossover between esports and sports. Taking place at Stamford Bridge, the home of the English champions on the 22nd March, ESI will welcome over 20 industry leading speakers for a fantastic one day event. For more information, click here.
Esports Insider says: Good to see more clubs getting involved. We have to admit though, we’re St Pauli fans at heart and there can only be one Hamburg club for us. Would be a good local rivalry in FIFA though, right?