Ligue 1 club AS Monaco has announced that it has joined eFootball.Pro esports league founded by Spanish and Barcelona football star Gerard Piqué.
AS Monaco is the third club after Barcelona and Schalke 04 to join the football eSports competition created by eFootball.Pro and the Japanese company Konami. The clubs will compete in the first international esports league to be organised for football clubs only.
The tournament is owned and managed by esports company Esports Media Rights (EMR), with Piqué acting as both its president and founder. Pro Evolution Soccer (PES), the Konami-produced game, will be used in all future editions of the eFootball.Pro competition.
Gerard Piqué, Founder and President of eFootball.Pro, “ Monaco is currently one of the greatest European clubs and a very expected addition to eFootball.Pro. They are already in several eSports leagues with other games and will undoubtedly be a rival to take into account in our competition. The rest of clubs will have to be on the alert for their moves before and during the season.”
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Juli Ferre, Commercial and Marketing Director of AS Monaco, said, “ One year after having created our dedicated eSports structure, this is another step forward in electronic sports industry for AS Monaco. The club which is already participating in different games, shows with this new move, its commitment to position itself as a key player in this area.”
“We are delighted to be the third club joining, as founding partners along with FC Barcelona and Schalke 04, in the first international electronic sports league for football clubs only. We are very excited to soon be competing with such great challengers, in this tough competition which will provide great moments to share with our fans.”
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Meanwhile, the club’s esports team – AS Monaco eSports Team – has also announced the launch of its Rocket League team and the signing of the players – Thomas “Ekon” Chenel, Anthony “Porto” Gabriel and Clement “Yukiss” Pardonche.
A mix of mechanical sport and football, Rocket League is one of the flagship games of the eSports scene. Rocket League plunges players into an arena with the objective being scoring goals in the opposing camp by using of cars. The video game is played at the professional level by teams of three. Like traditional football, the tactical dimension has a major impact.
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