Fleetwood Town FC have become the latest club to jump on the esports bandwagon.
The League One side, who were only promoted from the conference in 2012, have joined the likes of QPR and Port Vale by launching a Pro Clubs side in FIFA 18. The club is now officially on the hunt for players to join its ranks, and they’ll be hosting online trials on Wednesday 24th and Wednesday 31st this month. There’ll also be an additional live trial at Highbury Stadium on Friday 2nd February, with further details to follow.
Those keen to keen get involved can directly message the club’s official Facebook / Twitter esports pages with their name, PlayStation username, preferred date and time, and first and secondary position.
With Fleetwood’s arrival in esports we’ve now a club in each of the top four tiers of English football involved, in some capacity, in esports, as well as across most of the top leagues in Europe and further afield. Those interested in learning more about this crossover, or business opportunities in this regard, should get themselves to the Esports Insider Super Forum, at Stamford Bridge on March 22nd. Here, we’ll be exploring the sports and esports convergence across a packed out agenda of six panels and workshops. There’ll be an exhibition zone and ample chance for meetings and networking too.
The degree of sports clubs’ involvement in esports varies greatly, and whilst this is a long way from PSG or Schalke’s commitment to the space, it’s nice to see a club something new. Our key concern however is that a negative experience, as is something of a risk with 11 v 11 FIFA, could put both themselves, and other clubs, off esports longer term. Fleetwood Town have also partnered with Virtual Pro Gaming for this project, as have QPR and the Valiants, and the team will start in the League Two North Division.
Esports Insider says: This is the club that birthed Jamie Vardy. If you too want to be having a party and you dream of Fleetwood Town glory then get yourself a trial spot, and get practising on Pro mode in the mean time. We wish Fleetwood all the best in this new project!
