Saudi Arabian football team Al Nassr has announced a partnership with Italian esports organisation Mkers, and officially entered esports competitions in EA FC 24.
The deal also sees the Saudi football club acquire João Afonso ‘Jafonso’ Vasconcelos, one of the best EA FC players in the world, for its esports division. The two brands noted that this is the first step in growing the club’s presence in esports.
For Al Nassr this is the first time that the club has created an esports division, and it has done so with a large-scale partnership with Mkers, an Italian esports brand known for its collaboration with Inter Milan, one of Italy’s most successful football clubs. The esports project, which will be called Esports Al Nassr powered by Mkers, will be jointly ran by the two companies.
According to a release, Mkers will offer technical and competitive management, as well as commercial and strategic expertise in marketing and growth. The acquisition of Vasconcelos is in line with Al Nassr’s policy of signing big names as the club made headlines by signing Portuguese footballer Christiano Ronaldo in 2023. Vasconcelos is the current champion of the Esports World Cup and is a former eMLS winner.
Whilst this might be Al Nassr’s first step into esports, Mkers has been involved in the industry since it was founded in 2016. The Italian brand has boasted teams in EA FC (formerly FIFA), Rainbow Six Siege, Overwatch, League of Legends and Starcraft II. Most recently the brand worked with Inter Milan to launch a community-focused esports series in non-football titles.
Guido Fienga, CEO of Al Nassr stated: “It is an important step to continue the development of Al Nassr in a new field of play that is very popular with our fans. Excellence and innovation are at the heart of our strategy, and with Mkers and Jafonso, we aspire to be a winning team in major international competitions right away.”
Al Nassr announced that its newly-created EA FC team will compete at the FC PRO qualifier in London on November 25th.
