English Premier League football club Arsenal have announced the squad that will be representing them in the PES eFootball.Pro League.
Emiliano Spinelli, 30 from Germany (pictured left), team captain Christopher Maduro Morais, 30 from Portugal (centre) and Alexis Garaud, 25 from France (right) will make up Arsenal’s latest esports team.
Arsenal have also partnered with Esports Gaming League (EGL), who will be managing the esports team.
EGL says players were interviewed, vetted and signed to contracts in order to represent Arsenal FC across the season.
The team will go up against the likes of Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Manchester United, Juventus and AS Monaco in 3v3 co-op matches between December 2019 and July 2020.
Read more: Man U, Juventus, Arsenal & others to take part in PES eFootball 2019/20 season
There will be 11 match days overall and Arsenal’s first match will be against AS Monaco tomorrow (December 14th), streamed on YouTube and Facebook.
The streaming schedule for December 14th is as follows (times in GMT, UK time):
- 12pm – Programme opening
- 12:10pm – FC Nantes vs Boavista FC
- 1pm – FC Schalke 04 vs Celtic FC
- 1.45pm – Arsenal FC vs AS Monaco
- 2.30pm – Manchester United FC vs FC Bayern
- 3.15pm – FC Barcelona vs Juventus
While this is the first time Arsenal will compete in the PES eFootball.Pro League, it’s not the first time they’ve got involved in esports.
Arsenal took part in the FIFA ePremier League earlier this year (which was won by Liverpool’s Tekkz) and will do so again in 2020.
Team captain Christopher Maduro Morais told www.arsenal.com: “It is a great honour to become an Arsenal player. As a lifelong supporter, this is something that I have dreamed of since I was a young boy and I am happy that years of work and sacrifice have paid off.
“I am excited, along with my team-mates, to represent Arsenal as the club makes its first steps into eFootball. Come on you Gunners!”
EGL managing director Glen Elliott added:
“We’re excited to be working with Arsenal FC, embracing esports culture and authentically entering into the space through EGL. We’re looking forward to seeing what this team can do with the assistance EGL will be providing.”
Glen Elliott, EGL
Arsenal have a partnership in place with eFootball PES game developer Konami, which was extended by three years in the summer.
Arsenal’s players and stadium feature prominently in eFootball PES 2020, which has an exclusive Arsenal edition of the game available.
Arsenal also said Konami would have access to the club’s players and legends, and an exclusive Arsenal edition of the game would be available.
The PES World League finals have also taken place at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. This year, it was co-hosted by Arsenal legend and former footballer Robert Pires.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
