Croatian football club NK Rudeš has joined the world of esports by announcing its very own Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster. Not only that, it also plans to announce a League of Legends roster in the upcoming days.
The team is currently competing in Battle4Split, a free-to-participate tournament that involves CS:GO, League of Legends, and FIFA 18. There are four online qualification tournaments from March 10th to April 28th, and NK Rudeš managed to advance through the very first. This now leads them to the LAN Finals in Split, Croatia on 18-20th May – where there’s a 25,000 HRK (£2,933.98) prize pool up for grabs.
NK Rudeš currently competes in the top flight of Croatian football, namely the HT Prva liga, after being promoted last season. The club is otherwise known for having a partnership with La Liga side Deportivo Alavés, where it feeds through players which the Spanish club deems good enough to join its ranks.
It’s worth noting that many of the other football teams that have entered the esports scene have opted to compete in FIFA – or games such as League of Legends with less ‘real’ violence – instead of shooter titles such as CS:GO. F.C. Copenhagen is among one of the only European sides who have entered the CS:GO scene, buying the previous Dignitas roster and creating North in collaboration with Nordisk Film in January 2017.
Esports Insider says: Another sports team entering esports is becoming less and less surprising, there seems to be a trend forming and we fully expect more clubs in ‘traditional sports’ to follow suit sooner rather than later.
