Tournament organiser ESL has extended its partnership with logistics company DHL to cover ESL One events in 2020.

DHL will continue to serve as a sponsor and logistics partner of ESL One tournaments for the year.

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ESL Academy, a grassroots initiative launched in partnership with DHL in October last year, will continue in 2020, providing a path-to-pro initiative for amateur Dota 2 players. DHL will continue to support the circuit as part of the extension.

Ralf Reichert, CEO of ESL, commented on the deal in a release: “We host competitions across the globe and deliver first-class entertainment to millions of esports fans, both at the tournaments on-site and via our live broadcasts. Organizing these tournaments is a major undertaking and very challenging, so we’re happy to have DHL on our team. They bring the logistics expertise we need and share our passion for esports.”

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The working relationship between ESL and DHL was established in 2018, resulting in the logistics company playing an active role at ESL One events in Belo Horizonte, Birmingham, Cologne, Hamburg, Katowice, Mumbai, and New York.

Arjan Sissing, Head of Corporate Brand Marketing at Deutsche Post DHL Group, also spoke on the extension: “With this partnership, we are very successfully addressing a young target group that can hardly be reached through traditional marketing channels. As digital natives, esports fans naturally have a strong affinity for e-commerce, and for us as a logistics operator, e-commerce is a mainstay of our business. However, they are attractive to us not only as customers, but also as potential employees.

Esports Insider says: DHL quickly became a fan-favourite partner, an achievement that not many non-endemic brands have managed to reach despite countless activations. We hope ESL and DHL continue to deliver with the partnership and it becomes a staple cooperation in esports – much like ESL and Intel has.

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