McDonald’s Germany will not renew its 15-year partnership with the German Football Association (DFB), but will continue to work with ESL during 2019.

The fast-food chain has brought on a new agency partner, Jung von Matt / SPORTS, to help focus the brand’s sponsorship strategy.

McDonald’s Germany has supported the ESL Meisterschaft national competition this year and was an official supplier for this year’s ESL One Hamburg Dota 2 competition.

McDonald’s Germany has ended its partnership with the German Football Association (DFB), the country’s governing body for the sport. Instead, the fast food brand will expand its involvement in esports, and extend its current partnership with ESL through 2019.

In January of this year, it was announced that McDonald’s Germany would be the official partner for the ESL Meisterschaft, the company’s national championship in Germany for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive , League of Legends , and FIFA . In addition, McDonald’s was a supplier for this year’s ESL One Hamburg event, alongside brands such as Pringles, SNIPES, and SAP.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]McDonald’s was an official supplier for this year’s ESL One Hamburg event, alongside Pringles, SNIPES, and SAP.[/perfectpullquote]

“McDonald’s is a global brand that stands for zeitgeist and youth culture—just like ESL,” said Bernhard Mogk, SVP global sales & business development at ESL. “We are delighted that this partnership will be renewed, to further anchor esports as a pop culture phenomenon.”

McDonald’s is one of the highest valued brands partnered with ESL One, alongside Intel and Mercedes-Benz—the latter of which will also part ways with the DFB as a general sponsor from January 2019.

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In addition, McDonald’s has named Hamburg agency Jung von Matt / SPORTS as its strategic partner moving forward. The agency, which also created the esports marketing campaigns for brands such as Mercedes-Benz, will advise McDonald’s as it reorganizes its sports sponsorship strategy.

Toan Nguyen, chief strategist and partner at Jung von Matt / SPORTS, told The Esports Observer that his agency would extend McDonald’s on-the-ground presence, while also investing more into digital and video content. “Apart from that, we will develop very special rewards for fans. All ideas will be conceptually rooted within specific gaming communities. In doing so, we want McDonald’s to embrace the language of the gaming community, similar to what McDonald’s Denmark has done.”

McDonald’s Denmark revealed just this week a custom Counter-Strike menu in support of the BLAST Pro Series in Copenhagen. For its esports events in Germany, McDonald’s offered attendees the chance to order food directly to the venue. At ESL One Hamburg, the brand operated a booth where attendees could print their own team jerseys in real time.

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Nguyen also noted that future activations would be based around multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games for now, but there are plans to expand to old and retro titles. The agency would also be evaluating all potential assets for McDonald’s, including esports teams.

Financial terms of McDonald’s renewed deal with ESL, and partnership with Jung Von Matt Group, were not disclosed.

McDonald’s has been a partner of the DFB since 2004. In the announcement, Philipp Wachholz, spokesman for McDonald’s Germany, emphasized that the decision to no longer sponsor German soccer was not necessarily tied to its esports commitment, however, it reflects the brand’s strategy to connect closer to the lives of teenagers and young people. “The step into esports was absolutely right for us, and we see a significant increase in brand awareness among the targeted audience,” said Wachholz.