- Barca to occupy space last held by S2V
- Club veteran Gerard Pique to also have team competing next year
- Superliga’s summer 2021 season was watched by almost 5m viewers
Spanish soccer giants Barcelona are joining the League of Legends (LoL) esports ecosystem and will compete in the Superliga, the game’s elite level tournament in Spain, from 2022.
Barca will occupy the Superliga space previously held by Catalan team S2V.
The league, which is organised by Mediapro’s Professional Video Games League (LVP), has enjoyed a strong increase in viewership in recent years, with almost five million people watching the summer 2021 season – a record high. This year’s tournament accumulated over 2.6 million viewing hours, up 39 per cent year-on-year (YoY).
Furthermore, the Superliga grand final was watched by 300,000 different viewers, smashing the previous record of 73,596 viewers and achieving an average minute audience (AMA) of 43,191 viewers, a 165 per cent increase on the final in summer 2020.
Fans will be able to follow the 2022 Superliga from January, with live streaming every Monday and Thursday, as well as linear distribution via the Ubeat television channel.
Barca will join the likes of Movistar Riders, G2 Arctic, and MAD Lions Madrid as one of ten teams competing in the Superliga. Barca defender Gerard Pique will also have a team featuring in the league, which he co-owns with popular streamer Ibai Llanos.
The LoL entry adds to Barca’s existing esports teams, which have competed in eFootball, Rocket League and Hearthstone for two years.
“FC Barcelona’s incorporation into the Superliga is a truly significant step in the development of the esports sector,” said Jordi Soler, chief executive of LVP. “As a century-old institution with millions of followers around the world, Barca help consolidate and expand audiences, a job we have been doing successfully for more than a decade.
“From LVP, we are delighted they are betting on our tournament, and we only hope their esports career will be as successful of their sporting trajectory to date.”
Barca now joins other soccer clubs in LoL, including fellow European heavyweights Paris Saint-Germain. The French outfit’s PSG Talon competes in the Pacific Championship Series (PCS) through a partnership with the club’s esports arm and Talon Esports.
