From the coming season, Eintracht Frankfurt will join EA FC and League of Legends in the tactical shooter Valorant. The Hessians have ambitious goals
This was announced by the traditional club from the heart of Europe in an announcement on Monday. The Eagles are aiming to become “one of the leading teams for the DACH scene” in the Riot title and plan to “qualify for international competitions in the medium term”, as Frankfurt’s Head of Esports, Max Brömel, eSport, revealed in an exclusive interview.
“Pioneering role” on the road to success already assured
For Brömel, the main person responsible for gaming at the Hesse-based company, Valorant is “a highly attractive eSports title”. The aim is to decisively drive and steer its development in Germany from the 2024 season. “In a pioneering role, we want to set the course for national and international success.” The former is already assured, as Frankfurt is the first German soccer club to enter the success game.
The fact that Eintracht Frankfurt is also capable of winning titles was proven in 2023 by the virtual soccer department of the 2022 Europa League winners. Antonio Radelja secured the individual championship in the Grand Final of the Virtual Bundesliga, which announced a partnership with the streaming offshoot of Sky on Monday. Internationally, the German-Croatian only just failed to qualify for the final round of the eChampions League. In the future, there will be similar successes in the tactical shooter from Riot.
Gaming as a means of fan loyalty
In addition, Timm Jäger, Managing Director of EintrachtTech, is also interested in a new form of fan loyalty and getting a young generation excited about Eintracht. “Gen Z and Gen Alpha are hard to reach in other ways due to their very specific media behavior. We want to achieve this by combining the gaming world with a modern youth culture.” Valorant is also particularly suitable for this due to the diversity of its characters. “We want to help shape the reality of young people’s lives instead of making it taboo,” says Jäger.
Before Eintracht Frankfurt can really get going, however, it still needs a complete team. So far, only Leonardo ‘Leosen’ Hennrich has been confirmed as a signing for the Hessians. The 23-year-old has several years of experience in the Challengers League in the DACH region, where the newly formed Eintracht squad will begin its Valorant journey
