Guild Esports and Samsung Electronics UK&I have teamed up to host ‘Squad Goals’, a series of live shows hosted by UK content creators/hosts TN25 and Iain Chambers.
Each week, along with special guests, the pair will dissect football action surrounding the FIFA Ultimate Team of the Week, both in real life and within the gaming sphere from the EA Sports Cup, in front of a live studio audience at Guild HQ in the heart of Shoreditch. It will take place in the run up to the World Cup.
The collaboration will see three two-hour episodes weekly on Wednesdays between 5pm and 7pm. The first session streamed on Wednesday November 2nd 2022, with the next two due on November 9th and 16th 2022.
During the livestream episodes, the hosts will kick off with discussing the current Team of the Week before welcoming the weekly guests to chat all things football and FIFA, including the EA Sports Cup, which Guild’s FIFA duo Nico and David are taking part in. They will then dissect what this means for all casual gamers who pay attention to Team of the Week to share their picks before it’s revealed live on show.
Each week, the guests will also get a chance to take on the hosts at a game of FIFA on a Samsung Neo QLED TV. To celebrate the launch of the series, viewers at home had the chance to vote for their winner with the opportunity to win a Samsung Neo QLED 4K TV.
“With the World Cup kicking off in a few weeks’ time, the collaboration between Samsung and Guild Esports will generate excitement and build momentum on the run up to the big game. We are thrilled to be working with Guild Esports to bring forth a truly immersive experience to our audience who are passionate about FIFA and football.”
Zeena Hill, Samsung
The first episode opened with special guests Ben Whittaker, Olympic silver medallist Tokyo 2020 and undefeated pro boxer, and Rachel Stringer, broadcaster and host of many FIFA esports broadcasts.
During the episode, Ben went head-to-head with TN25 in the first ‘Challenge TN’ competition, while Rachel faced off against Iain Chambers.
The announcement comes after Guild partnered with SCL Education to launch the Guild College and offer BTEC esports qualifications.
Zeena Hill, marketing director of TV/AV at Samsung Electronics UK&I, said: “With the World Cup kicking off in a few weeks’ time, the collaboration between Samsung and Guild Esports will generate excitement and build momentum on the run up to the big game. We are thrilled to be working with Guild Esports to bring forth a truly immersive experience to our audience who are passionate about FIFA and football.”
Nick Westwood, creative director at Guild Esports, said: “The worlds of real life football and the gaming football community are uniquely linked with performances on the pitch relating to their rating in the game and the weekly Team of the Week – we have long wanted to make a fun chat show format that brings this to life and we are grateful for our partner Samsung’s help in delivering this series.”
The series can be streamed through twitch.tv/guildesports and twitch.tv/tn25official
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.
