It’s the one we’ve all been waiting for; FC Barcelona have entered esports.
The iconic Catalan football club has joined the new, and forthcoming, competition organised by eFootball.Pro and Konami. This means that Barca will field a team, and will ‘compete against international first-rate rivals’. 
The President and Founder of eFootball.Pro is none other than Gerard Piqué, making the Barcelona entrance a little less surprising; the Spanish centre back has 265 caps and counting for the club.
Piqué had this to say about the news: “As a player, I’m glad that my club has decided to enter eSports and joined this innovative project that we are preparing together with KONAMI. Barça will be able to contribute its values to the competition and I’m sure that it will be a great rival for the rest of the teams. On our part, from eFootball.Pro we will join the club in its new adventure in this digital world and we will guide it so it gets to excite its fans as it does with the rest of sports.”
Manel Arroyo, FC Barcelona Vice President of Marketing and Media, said of the announcement: “Barça is attentive to what is happening in this global and technological world, and given the major penetration and growth of eSports, is on the path to also becoming a leader in this field. FC Barcelona, in keeping with its innovative spirit, has decided to participate in a pioneering competition in the world of eSports, alongside the finest partners, KONAMI and eFootball.Pro.
“We are sure that this competition will continue to make Barça members and fans that follow eSports around the world very proud’. The professionals that form the blaugrana eSports team will challenge their opponents using the KONAMI football video game series.”
Jonas Lygaard, Senior Director – Brand & Business Development for Konami Digital Entertainment B.V. commented:”We are extremely excited to have one of the biggest clubs in the world, FC Barcelona, joining the league and for the first time entering the eSports market on the Pro Evolution Soccer platform. This partnership elevates things to a new and professional level and gives fans a chance to compete and officially represent FC Barcelona on the biggest stages in the world.”
According to the announcement from eFootball.Pro ‘more details and new competition members will be unveiled soon’. The company recently confirmed a partnership with Sportradar which will see the latter become the ‘Official International Media Rights Distribution Partner’ of the league in a multi-year deal.
Esports Insider says: At long last we have one of the world’s very largest football clubs dipping their toes into esports. The reasoning for this manner of entrance; that is the connection via Mr. Gerard Piqué, is clear, and we hope that their experience with eFootball.Pro and Konami ensures a deeper involvement into the esports space in the future.
