Twenty esports teams, together with tournament organiser ESL and the German Games Industry Association (BIU), announced the foundation of the Esport Bund Deutschland (ESBD). One of the organisation’s expressed goals is to bridge the gap between the local esports associations and Esports.BIU, a group of game publishers within BIU, focused on the competitive scene.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The ESBD wants to promote esports in Germany, a key region within the market.[/perfectpullquote]

Out of the twenty teams that signed the founding documents, six are amateur organisations and fourteen are professionals, the latter of which includes H2k Gaming, Unicorns of Love, Euronics Gaming, and the newly founded Fraport Skyliners’ esports department.

The ESBD’s president, Hans Jagnow, said in a statement on behalf of the contributing organisations::

“Not only do we want to ensure a unified representation for all players, but we also want to create an advocacy for both amateur and professional clubs to benefit from the development of esports”.

The ESBD wants to promote esports in Germany, a key region within the market. Aside from being home to some of the largest events, such as Gamescom and ESL One Cologne and Hamburg, the EU LCS is filmed and broadcast out of Berlin, where all top European League of Legends teams are also de facto headquartered.

The ESBD will also create national teams to join international competitions, organise national leagues, certify referees and coaches, and sit at the table with the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB). The DOSB, which has denied the admission of esports several times already, had set the establishment of an esports federation as a precondition to start the discussions regarding recognising esports as sports.

According to the founding statement, the ESBD will act as a contact between esports and sport, politics, business, science, and other social circles.

“We are starting at a good timing when esports receives more attention”, said Hans Jagnow. “We want to take advantage of this opportunity to talk to all stakeholders and improve the conditions for everyone involved in esports. We also set ourselves a goal to have esports recognised soon as a sport.”

TEO reached out to Anna Baumann, legal counsel to the association, who commented:

“I am very excited to advise on the legal challenges of this emerging industry. Good governance and effective and fair regulation need to be tailored to the specific needs of esports. The recognition of the non-profit status of esports clubs in Germany will be one of our first goals in a legal context to help the amateur scene developing affordable structures.”

The ESBD’s board of directors consists of president Hans Jagnow and four vice presidents:

