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Update: Man City has also announced a partnership with Challengermode as its official esports platform.
This will see the platform run free weekly Rocket League and FIFA gaming tournaments for City fans, with prizes including signed shirts, match tickets and more up for grabs. Check out the Man City esports platform on Challengermode here.
Original article: English Premier League football club Manchester City have teamed up with global esports organisation Gen.G under the banner of Gen City.
The pair said they will be ‘combine football and esports audiences, creating bespoke experiences and unique engagement opportunities tailored towards both sets of fans, including new content with talent and players across multiple platforms as well as in-person fan events in South Korea’.
Man City are currently the best football team in the Premier League, a league that attracts billions of pounds of bets from all over the world. And platforms like surebet help fans find some of the best betting sites out there.
Gen.G have offices in Los Angeles, Seoul and Shanghai, and field teams in titles including League of Legends, Valorant and Overwatch. They have won the two most recent LCK seasons, and the org also focus on esports education with their Gen.G Global Academy (GGA).
Man City have also embraced esports in recent years, with FIFA and Fortnite players including British FIFA player and 2020/21 ePremier League champion, Shellzz, Cuban Fortnite player Threats, who won 2023 DreamHack San Diego winner, and more. They announced the Gen City partnership on their socials this morning:
Following Man City’s recent announcement of the Club’s visit to Seoul as part of 2023/24 preseason preparations in July, Man City said this collaboration ‘will further establish an opportunity for both organisations to activate and maximise the club’s presence in Asia, as the team prepares to move into the new season as reigning Premier League champions’.
Gen City ‘to create exciting experiences for football and esports fans alike’
Gavin Johnson, Media Director at City Football Group, said about Gen City: “We are delighted to launch the collaboration between Manchester City and Gen.G, another fantastic addition to the club’s growing involvement in the esports space which will further increase our presence within South Korea and the region.
“Working with Gen.G, a hugely successful name in the gaming industry, we hope to spark a unique synergy of global audiences, providing both organisations the chance to create exciting experiences for football and esports fans alike.”
Gavin Johnson, City Football Group, on Gen City
Arnold Hur, CEO of Gen.G Esports, added: “We’ve been on a search to learn from the sports world’s best about what it takes to maintain a championship mindset even under the brightest lights of competition, and we are excited to work with the newly crowned champions, Manchester City under the banner of Gen City.
“We are incredibly excited about this partnership both for our competitive and educational teams and hope to build upon this collaboration into the future.”
The news comes after Man City footballing superstar Erling Haaland recently posted on Instagram a picture of him playing Minecraft.
And several Man City Fortnite players recently took part in the Red Bull Contested LAN in Scotland.
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.
