The blurry boundary between eSports and traditional sporting institutions has been acknowledged by English Premier League leaders Manchester City, who have signed their second EA Sports Fifa player.
Marcus ‘ExpectSporting’ Jorgensen will represent the club playing Fifa on the PlayStation 4 console, while established player Kieran 'Kez' Brown (who The Drum previously interviewed) will continue to represent the club at competitions on the Xbox One.
Jorgenson got the attention of the club after winning the inaugural Fifa Interactive Club World Cup in 2017. He said: "I’m extremely happy to be stepping into the next chapter of my eSports career with Manchester City. 2017 represented such a successful season for me and I have the drive and ambition to take my game to the next level.”
The club has been chasing digital firsts as it looks to solidify a marketing performance synonymous with this season's on-pitch dominance. Nuria Tarre, chief marketing officer for City Football Group said: "We’re really excited to be signing Marcus to represent Manchester City in tournaments and fan events around the world. He has already demonstrated that he can compete among the best eSports Fifa players around so we can’t wait to see how he progresses.
“The growth in eSports over the past 18 months has been significant and our increasing presence in this field has provided another exciting platform for us to engage with City fans, both here in the UK and further afield.”
Check out The Drum's investigation into eSports in football here.