Real Madrid soccer player Gareth Bale has launched a new esports organization called Ellevens Esports. The organization is co-owned by Bale and 38 Entertainment Group, which was co-founded by entrepreneur Jonathan Kark and former soccer player Larry Cohen.
“My interest in esports started about two years ago watching Ninja stream Fortnite and as a result I naturally progressed to watching FIFA and the FIFA Global Series. The competitive side was fascinating, so I decided I wanted to provide an opportunity for gamers that take esports seriously and to play for a professional organisation at the highest level,” Bale said in an announcement from Ellevens.
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The first gaming title that Ellevens has created a team for is EA Sports’ FIFA. The team will make its tournament debut in the FIFA eWorld Cup, which takes place Feb. 7-9 in Milan, Italy, and features a $100,000 prize pool. Ellevens has signed three professional FIFA players to its roster (Pedro Resende, Ethan Higgins and Tyler Phillips), plus Twitch and YouTube content creator Tom Linnell.
Ellevens also has plans to form professional esports teams for other video games such as Fortnite, Rocket League and CS:GO. Other soccer stars that have previously invested in esports include Brazillian legend Ronaldo, Arsenal midfielder Mesut Özil, and Leicester City left back Christian Fuchs. Last year, eMLS All-Star Mike LaBelle told us about his career as a pro FIFA player.
