By Paul Nicholson
January 8 – Olympique Lyonnais (OL) are the latest European Big 5 league club to formalise and expand its professional e-sports operation to compete under the club’s name on a variety of game platforms as well as the FIFA platform.
December 29 – Roma, Basel, Man City, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Olympique Lyonais lead the club branded qualifiers for the FIFA eClub World Cup 2020 finals to be be played February 7-9.
December 16 – Olympic esports took a tentative step towards becoming a reality with the IOC suggesting that simulation games based on the actual sport (rather than ‘killer games’) could be included in the Olympic programme.
December 10 – German Champions FC Bayern Munich are the latest club to enter Konami’s eFootball.Pro League, joining other newcomer Manchester United for the second season of the esports competition that begins December 14.
November 19 – With the MLS having just completed its regular season, the eMLS has announced its competitive schedule for 2020 that will begin in January 2020, a couple of months before action on the pitch kicks off.
November 1 – FIFA’s esports division has unveiled its qualification process for the returning eNations Cup and eClub World Cup as well as the pathway to the eWorld Cup 2020.
By Paul Nicholson
October 31 – The esports business is expected to generate $1 billion of income this year, rising to $5 billion annually in five years time. It is an income growth wave that football has been keen to catch, but a report by the KPMG Football Benchmark team argues that the attraction of football to esports should not be solely about revenue generation.
October 24 – Holland’s Eredivisie is gearing up for the start of the eDivisie’s fourth season on November 11 with a new partnership with DreamHack and an updated competition format.
October 15 – It’s being described as the weirdest derby on the planet.
October 10 – Adidas, one of FIFA’s six top tier partners, has added sponsorship of the the governing bodies esports package – the FIFA 20 Global Series – and will provide the official in-game ball.
September 27 -Manchester City has partnered with esports business FaZe Clan to bring closer together the fans of the club and video gaming with a range of new experiences.
September 27 – UEFA has unveiled details of its first ever eSports European championships – eEURO 2020 – that will be played on Konami’s eFootball PES 2020.
August 22 – The eFootball.Pro League is set to expand with more clubs as well as introducing a competition for amateur players – the eFootball.Open – that will see a rebranding of the PES League.
August 21 – With FIFA have just announced record breaking numbers for the finals of its eWorld Cup, UEFA has announced the launch of UEFA eEURO 2020, a national-team eFootball tournament that will see all 55 of UEFA’s national associations kick off play this November.
August 15 – The FIFA eWorld Cup, won last weekend at The O2 in London by German Mohammed ‘MoAuba’ Harkous, hammered previous competition viewing records, growing 60% to 47 million views.