French premier soccer league Ligue 1 is heading into uncharted waters as the organization announced last week eLigue 1, Europe’s first professional eSports soccer league.
The league has partnered with EA Sports FIFA 17 for competition, making it the first time a major professional sports league has formed an equivalent league for gaming. Each of the 20 member clubs in Ligue 1 will sponsor two FIFA players, one for PS4 and one for Xbox One, to compete in the new eSports organization.
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The tournament will be divided into two seasons, with the winter season kicking off in November followed by another session hosted between February and March. Winners from each season will compete in the eLigue playoffs in May and the winner will qualify for a European League where it will square off against winners from other similar eSports leagues from European countries, according to Sky Sports.
Didier Quillot, Chief Executive Officer of Ligue 1, called the announcement “a great precedent in French and European sport” and highlighted the “increasing value … that eSports is opening up in sports’ rights, ticketing, merchandising and sponsorship.”
France’s largest soccer club Paris Saint-Germain, a club member in Ligue 1, dove further into eSports with the creation of PSG eSports as eLigue 1 was announced.
Earlier this month, it was also reported that German premier soccer league, Bundesliga, filed trademarks for several eSports related terms, including DFL Esport Bundesliga, DFL Virtuelle Bundesliga, eBundesliga, iBundesliga, SportecSolutions and DFL Sportec. Based on the league’s legal action and expressed interest in eSports, it doesn’t seem far-fetched to believe that a German eSports league might be created in the near future as well.