Friday last week marked a memorable moment for the continued efforts of pushing esports and sports closer together. The past several years a number of football teams have picked up esports players and teams, mostly for FIFA. AS Roma and Fnatic, however, sparked a new kind of partnership with players joining the club and flying the Fnatic banner. This became prevalent on Friday when AS Roma Tweeted images of their new Ultimate Team 2018 jersey which featured the Fnatic logo, a first for FIFA and esports.
We're very happy to announce that this year's #ASRoma eSports kits will be available on @EASPORTSFIFA Ultimate Team! ??? #FIFA18 pic.twitter.com/cIX77eDDcT
— AS Roma eSports (@RomaeSports) September 15, 2017
Fnatic partnered up with AS Roma back in February, offering training, event coordination, consultancy and overall support for the division which included three players – Aman Seddiqi, Sam Carmody and Nicolo Mirra. The players came on board in the beginning, and have been offered extensions in the future.
Ultimate Team is a mode in FIFA which allows players to build their own teams, making use of any players and uniforms to compete against other players online. There’s an online currency in the form of coins which allows players to buy gear.
FIFA 18 releases on the 29th of September and is already one of the most anticipated competitive sports titles of the year. FIFA has grown exponentially over the years, on the competitive front, with the recent influx of professional sporting clubs bringing on FIFA players. Locally, FIFA has offered up some of South Africa’s biggest esports competitions, including the R1.5 million competition which too place in July hosted by VS Gaming, giving South Africa’s highest-earning esports player who walked away with R500,000.
FIFA has been widely accepted as an answer to bringing both esports and sports closer together, tying fans of the world’s most popular sport with the growing trend of esports. The addition of the Fnatic logo to the Ultimate Team jerseys is a major step for the continued efforts of creating new audiences.
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Last Updated: September 18, 2017
