Gerard Pique's eFootball.Pro initiative is taking shape, as the competition in which real football clubs face each other with their respective PES 2019 pro players in 2v2 matches is welcoming its fourth official team just today. After FC Barcelona, Schalke 04, and AS Monaco, that team is none other than legendary Scottish club Celtic FC.
It was somewhat expected as Celtic already took part in this summer's eFootball.Pro triangular invitational at the Veltins Arena, along with home team Schalke and another team that could potentially join the competition soon, Santos FC.
FC Barcelona's Gerard Piqué draws a comparison to real life football to celebrate the new addition, stating that "I have faced them several times as a player and I know that they will show in eSports the same integrity they display on the pitch. Having a club with so much history will give us the necessary values to make our league a model in the sector".
It's important to note this 2v2 tournament will be held in parallel to (but with official support from) Konami's PES League, which just took off and gathers together pro and amateur players in 1v1 and 3v3 co-op matches, both online and live. However, eFootball.Pro now has to define its competition structure and to announce the remaining clubs, while those clubs announce the players they're signing.
With regards to the latter point, EC_Oneill and Indominator played for Celtic at the invitational, but it's unclear whether they'll remain. The same goes for Barça, but with top players such as PES League 2018 world champions Ettorito and Alex Alguacil up for grabs, the transfer rumor mill is of course running full steam. Schalke and Monaco, on the other hand, have already formed their final teams, with GoooL, wide, and EL_Matador for the German team, and Lotfi and Usmakabyle for the French one.
We've seen real clubs such as Schalke competing (and doing very well) at other esports titles such as League of Legends, but what do you think about football clubs competing at football games? Leave a comment below.
