A prominent Premier League soccer club that has already established a footing in esports is looking to enter the rising Chinese VALORANT scene via open tryouts. But this could also mean the early end of a partnership between the club and the reigning world champions.
Wolves Esports, the esports org associated with the Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, has announced the beginning of the recruitment process for a Chinese VALORANT team, according to an official post on the Wolves FC Weibo channel. According to the post, as reported by VALORANT news site VALO2ASIA, Wolves FC is looking for players who have reached Radiant, as well as players who would be good teammates.
For those who have been watching the highest tier of competitive VALORANT over the past year, they’ve been staring at the Wolves logo for virtually the entire season. For just over two years now, Wolves has partnered with the Evil Geniuses organization, with Wolves serving as the focal point of EG’s expansion into the Chinese market. Wolves spearheaded “local Mandarin content” for EG and was originally willing to provide a local training base for the League of Legends team if they reached Worlds in 2021.
The Wolves logo was prominently featured on the EG jersey while the EG VALORANT roster did the unthinkable, going from an underperforming team in the bottom half of VCT Americas to world champions in just a matter of months. Currently, the future of EG VALORANT is in question though, with the organization reportedly telling its players they need to take a pay cut to stay, while also reportedly rejecting transfer offers from other teams.
Chinese VALORANT has been on a meteoric rise over the past few months, with viewership skyrocketing to the point that Champions 2023 was the most-watched global event in the game’s recent history, while several teams like EDG and Bilibili have become contenders on the international stage.
Published: Oct 3, 2023 10:33 am