A legend in the football game and former Ballon d’Or winner, Ruud Gullit has today announced a new project in esports.
The Dutch star will be investing in the development of esports through becoming an ambassador for his very own FIFA esports academy, Team Gullit.
The aim of the academy is to provide talented FIFA players with the chance to break through onto the larger international scene without being acquired by a large professional outfit – be it an esports organisation or traditional football club. The Gullit academy will “offer promising talents professional guidance and training to help them take their game to the next level so they can become the stars of the next generation.”
The academy will support its players though both training and coaching as well as developing software tools to analyse and improve the gameplay on both a strategic and tactical level of the academy players. It’s a more all-encompassing academy as the young, aspiring professionals will be given advice on dealing with social media and creating their own personal brand – something that’s becoming increasingly important in esports.
“I ended up in the world of FIFA because of my two sons. One of them plays professional football and my other son enjoys playing FIFA more than playing football in real life. When I visited the FIFA World Championships last year, I realized that there is such an enormous world behind the video game. The strategy and the choices that the FIFA-players make have a strong resemblance to the real-life sport,” says ambassador Ruud Gullit.
He continued: “I’m proud to link my name to organizations like Team Gullit that ensure that the talents are properly supervised to ensure that these boys can develop and become an even better player. Becoming an ambassador means that I can create new opportunities for these talents and share my learnings on professional sports from when I was a young talent.”
The first three players signed to the academy are Floris Jorna (18), Julian van den Berg (17) and Dani Visser (16). Both Jorna and Visser have qualified for the FIFA eWorld Cup in playoffs come January.
Gullit becomes the latest mover from the traditional sports scene into esports as the two continue to converge. The ESI Super Forum examines how the two industries cross over and takes place at Stamford Bridge on March 22nd. For more information click here.
Esports Insider says: Great to see a name like Ruud Gullit get involved. It’s another big name getting involved, and it’s a great idea too. FIFA’s esports continues to grow and as the sporting world continues to gain interest in sport-sim titles it’s only going to continue booming. Congratulations to Ruud and good luck to the three lucky players signed to the academy.
