Mentioned in this article Games: League of Legends Teams: SK Gaming

Cologne based esports organization SK Gaming has formed a partnership with its local Bundesliga team, 1. FC Köln. As per the agreement, SK Gaming’s players will have access to specific 1. FC Köln facilities, as well as fitness and nutrition experts on the soccer club’s staff.

The cooperation will also see SK Gaming’s FIFA players

play in the Virtual Bundesliga wearing 1. FC Köln jerseys.

The cooperation will also see two of SK Gaming’s professional FIFA players, Mirza Jahic and Timo “Praii” Gruneisen, play in the Virtual Bundesliga wearing 1. FC Köln jerseys. There are also plans for both teams to deliver joint-content with their players, including challenges, guides and behind the scenes offerings.

“As 1. FC Köln, we don’t just want to jump on a bandwagon and copy existing ventures of other football clubs,” Alexander Wehrle, Managing Director 1. FC Köln, said in the announcement. “We much rather develop the right strategy for the market and are very happy to have found the right partner in SK Gaming, who is a true global player in esports and at the same time a traditional Cologne based club.”

The partnership is similar in nature to Fnatic’s joint venture with Italian football club AS Roma in Feb. 2017, in which the London-based esports organization’s FIFA players played with co-branded football jerseys. This is the first move into esports for 1. FC Köln, who join a number of German football clubs active in the space—the most invested of which is Schalke 04, who current host a team in the EU LCS, the highest tier League of Legends competition in Europe.