German soccer team Hertha Berlin has announced that it will launch its eSport Academy to find and develop the next generation of talent.
It will become the first Bundesliga team to create its own academy and will focus on finding players for the FIFA video game franchise. Meanwhile, Matthias “Stylo” Hietsch, who ended 2017 as one of the top esports players in Germany has been appointed as the head of the academy to develop the young athletes.
With esports revenues expected to hit $346 million in 2018 in Europe this year, many top tier soccer clubs on the continent have set up teams in the burgeoning sport in the last few years, including AS Roma, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain. However, some clubs such as Hertha are going even beyond this, setting up their own academies to find the best crop of young players.
Last July, the Dutch soccer team Heracles became the first club to open a youth academy for an esports team. Meanwhile, a host of companies have sprung up to assist clubs in finding the newest superstars in esports. One of those companies, For F1FA Sake, says it is working with clubs in the English Premier League (EPL) and Championship to uncover new, young talent.
Hertha will work with an agency, Stark eSports, and also with German insurance company AOK Nordost to run and deliver the academy.
In order to kick start the academy, the club will host a number of tournaments and scouting events aimed at players between the ages of 12 and 18 in Berlin and a number of areas just outside the German capital. Ben “NoHandGaming” Paul, a YouTuber and Hertha fan, will act as host for these events. Following this, the club will select between two and four esports athletes to join the academy.
Paul Keuter, a member of the Hertha BSC board said in a statement: “We have decided to take the decision and join the eSports industry and continue the tradition of going our own individual way about things. We want to boost our already successful footballing academy and take that success into the eSports and digital world.”
