One soccer great is in the process of helping a group of virtual soccer greats. Ruud Gullit, once the dreadlocked Dutch national soccer team star, is becoming an ambassador of a FIFA Esports Academy called Team Gullit. Meant to assist previously undiscovered FIFA players, the academy provides coaching along with support in developing each player’s personal brand.
It was actually Gullit’s two sons that pushed him toward venturing into the world of FIFA. One son is a professional soccer player while the other is an avid player of the popular video game.
“When I visited the FIFA World Championships last year, I realized that there is such an enormous world behind the video game,” Gullit said in a statement. “The strategy and the choices that the FIFA players make have a strong resemblance to the real-life sport.”
Members of the academy will have access to analyzation tools to help improve their play on a strategic level. At the moment, the academy has three members: Floris Jorna, Julian van den Berg and Dani Visser; all 18 years old or younger.
“I’m proud to link my name to organizations like Team Gullit that ensure that the talents are properly supervised to ensure that these boys can develop and become an even better player,” Gullit said. “Becoming an ambassador means that I can create new opportunities for these talents and share my learnings on professional sports from when I was a young talent.”
The academy becomes the world’s first independent training organization centrally focused on FIFA. The game continues to gain traction within the esports scene as MLS recent launched a FIFA 18 league with EA Sports.
