UK-based esports organisation SAF (Serious About FIFA) Global Gaming will be hosting an event to mark the opening of its UK headquarters next month.
SAF will open its HQ at Snetterton Race Circuit in Norwich, Norfolk, on Saturday September 4th 2021. Friends of SAF and industry guests have been invited, including top UK FIFA caster Brandon Smith.
SAF will use the new HQ to train its esports team and SAF FIFA academy players, with several PlayStation 5 consoles at the venue and 1GB internet. SAF founder and CEO Callum Dornan will also be based there.
The news comes as SAF announced it had struck a deal with Clutch Cognition as its esports performance drinks partner, which will help players stay fit and healthy at the new HQ. Clutch Cognition is a plant-based performance drink that promises ‘blood sugar stabilising and concentration-enhancing features’.
Jon Jarvis, SAF esports manager, told Esports News UK: “We’ll do some activations with Clutch at the HQ opening party, including content and games, and they will be suppling 100 drinks.
“The HQ will be used around tournaments and in the lead up to tournaments, we’ll get players to train and they can make content streams and vlogs. They can also play their Weekend League matches there.
“The 1GB internet connection will be great for the players, and there will also be a hangout area, kitchen area and a pull-out bed! A lot of FIFA content creators and pro players should be there at the opening event.”
SAF will also use the event as a media day, taking photos of its players, and will also have a kit launch.
The news comes after SAF signed Danish FIFA player Oliver ‘IAmDonOli’ Mikkelsen as a new pro player.
On the partnership with Clutch Cognition, SAF partnerships manager Craig Winfield said: “As an organisation that influences the younger generation through our actions and brand partners, SAF wanted to cut through the amount of unhealthy drinks and snacks that esports teams tend to advertise to what is predominantly young people.”
Rune Rønhave Laursen, CEO of Clutch Cognition, added: “With esports in general becoming more and more commercially driven, and numerous organisations favouring cash over principles, we are absolutely delighted to partner up with an organisation like SAF, who stands for the opposite.
“Choosing products that can actually help them achieve their goals, and at the same time lets them stand out as good role models, make them an ideal partner for Clutch. We rely on teaming up with partners who share our values around health and professionalism, and choose us on account of these. SAF are a prime example, and we are thrilled they asked us to team up.”
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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.
