At 35, Robert Lewandowski is still one of the best strikers in the world. In the time after his active career, he could also turn to eSports. A first step in this direction has been taken, as eSport learned in Barcelona
Robert Lewandowski has to think for a moment, then he remembers. “My first video game … I think it was on the Commodore 64, an athletics game where you had to be very quick with the joystick,” he recalls in an interview with eSport about his entry into the world of video games. A form of entertainment that still accompanies the Polish goal scorer to this day. Although he now has “not so much time” due to his family, he still reaches for the controller every now and then “to clear his head.”
EAFC and eFootball are rebuffed
The veteran, who will captain his home country to the European Championship finals in Germany, doesn’t focus on soccer matches. “That makes up maybe 20 percent of the time I spend playing video games,” reveals Lewandowski. Instead, he’s taken a shine to a shooter and another sport: “Call of Duty and Formula 1” are currently the former Dortmund and Munich player’s favorite games.
In fact, the Bundesliga record goalscorer (41 goals in one season), who recently followed the IEM in Katowice with great interest, can also imagine getting into eSports himself. However, he does not envisage a role as a player like Mesut Özil once aspired to
Instead, Lewandowski has his sights set on his own team. “There were initial talks two or three years ago, but it never worked out,” says Lewandowski, who does not rule out a future in virtual sport: “You can never say what will happen. But it’s a topic I’m looking into. Everyone can find something for themselves in gaming. “
Lewandowski himself recently found a new role in the video game cosmos: On Wednesday, he was unveiled as a brand ambassador for G2A. The online marketplace specializes in digital media and wants to build a bridge to real sport with the Barca star. The aim of the whole thing: To bring the positive aspects of gaming to the target group of real sport and at the same time to promote the benefits of physical activity to gamers.
Bartosz Skwarczek, CEO and founder of G2A, also refers to video game clichés that he wants to dispel: “Some parents see their child sitting alone in front of the PC and perhaps worry that they are not playing outside with friends.” According to Skwarczek, this perception is not really true: “Many people don’t realize that most games are social in some way. Children hardly ever really sit alone in front of their computer. They usually play a game in which they have to communicate, work out a strategy and find solutions together. It’s a very social pastime. “
Football as a bridge between the real and virtual worlds
Following campaigns with racing drivers, speed climbers and the American college sports association NCAA, Skwarczek is now deliberately focusing on soccer in his project. After all, this is “the most popular sport in the world” – as the CEO, who is more interested in tennis in his private life, points out. G2A consciously accepts the fact that the gaming counterparts in the eSports scene are not doing so well in comparison: “We don’t have to cover the most popular game genres. We want to market gaming itself and show that it is a good thing that can have a positive impact on society. “
