Wolverhampton Wanderers FC (Wolves), a professional soccer club which currently plays in the first division of the English League, has entered the FIFA esports scene.
Wolves confirmed its entry into esports earlier today by partnering with Bundled, one of Europe’s leading console gaming esports agencies. Bundled currently manages 20 professional esports players for some of soccer’s biggest clubs, including Ajax and Feyenoord.
“The growth in esports is incredible.” Russell Joins, Head of Marketing at Wolves, said in the announcement. “60 million people are now tuning in to esports every week, so entering this market presents a huge opportunity for the club to engage with fans in new and exciting ways.”
Wolves plan to initially concentrate their efforts on the console esports scene by signing players to compete in EA’s FIFA series.
Wolves aren’t the only club in the West Midlands, U.K., area to enter esports in the past few months. Aston Villa FC (AVFC), a professional soccer club that currently plays in the second division of the English League, entered esports through the launch of a brand new tournament series back in May.
Schalke 04 is arguably the most known soccer team in esports, though. The German Bundesligia club currently has a League of Legends team that plays in the EU LCS and sits fifth in the standings for the Summer Split.
Paris Saint-Germain, another well known soccer team, recently entered Dota 2 alongside Chinese organization LGD Gaming. PSG originally entered esports through FIFA and League of Legends but left the League scene a few months after its initial announcement following a string of poor results.
With Wolves only focusing on the FIFA scene for now, fans of the soccer club will have to wait to see if the club enter other scenes in the future. Wolves have been coy on its plans beyond FIFA, only stating that this is the starting point for the company’s new venture.
Depending on the success of its FIFA team, Wolves could potentially branch out in the future. For now, however, it’s just concentrating on its first steps into esports before moving into different titles.
