January 2022 will see FC Barcelona, one of the world’s most iconic football clubs, join the League of Legends, as a member of the Superliga, the top League of Legends league in Spain. The tournament, organised by the Professional Video Games League (LVP), is already home to teams like Vodafone Giants, UCAM Esports Club, Movistar Riders, G2 Artic and MAD Lions Madrid. Barcelona will be the second big addition to the next Superliga after a team owned by Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos and Gerard Piqué, captain of FCB, acquired AstralisSB’s spot for €300,000. The Catalan giant’s venture into League is the latest step toward its commitment to esports. In a statement, the club said: “The commitment to developing Barça’s new esports division forms part of the club’s digital strategy, and is motivated by the same on-field desire of FCB, to become a main player in the digital esports sector worldwide in the next few years, building a leading division to help connect the club and its philosophy to new audiences, particularly among emerging markets for football fandom, and to take the Barça brand to countries such as the US and China.” Barça already has esports teams in eFootball, Rocket League and Hearthstone.
