When football players and esports collide.
The world of professional sports and esports has slowly become intertwined with one another over the last few years. We've already seen many traditional sporting teams that formed their own esports arm, which has since propelled esports to new heights. And with the FIFA World Cup done and dusted for the next four years, what better way to focus on the world's most popular sport than to showcase the famous football players with their own esports teams?
EA Sports FIFA series have been one of the most famous and iconic video game series of all time, which features plenty of household names in its database. Many professional players are always keen to know what their stats are like for every new iteration. That shows how closely connected both parties have been for some time. But it's more than that for some players; instead of just being a part of the game, they'd rather own a team and compete professionally.
And it's more than just playing FIFA. Many pro players either own teams to compete in some of the biggest titles or even invest in a current organisation. Aside from current pro players, many ex-footballers also have their hand in esports organisations, seeing how big of a crowd it attracts these days.
Jesse Lingard - JLINGZ Esports
The former Manchester United attacker Jesse Lingard is known to be an avid gamer, so much so that he has his very own team called JLINGZ Esports. Derived from his clothing brand with the same name, the team competes in various esports titles, including FIFA, Halo, and Rainbow Six Siege. It's also recently been announced that JLINGZ will also be partnering with Virtua to expand its Web3 operations.
David De Gea - Rebels Gaming
Current Manchester United goalkeeper as well as a former teammate of Jesse Lingard, David De Gea is also another avid gamer in the team that has his very own esports team. Known as Rebels Gaming, the team is currently competing in some of the biggest esports titles. Aside from also competing in Rainbow Six Siege, the Rebels Gaming team is also currently competing in VALORANT as well as League of Legends, two of Riot Games' biggest titles.
Casemiro - Case Esports
Yet another current Manchester United player, Brazilian defensive midfielder Casemiro may not look like a gamer but don't let his appearance fool you. He's been known to stream on Twitch from time to time with his passion leaning towards CS:GO. So much so that he even has his very own team: Case Esports. The team has been part of the competitive CS:GO community since 2020 and it features an all-Brazilian squad. That's not all though; the team also competes in other titles like FIFA and League of Legends as well as having male and female teams for VALORANT.
Sergio Agüero - KRÜ Esports
Having used to represent the blue half of Manchester, Sergio Agüero is another familiar name that has etched itself into the esports community. KRÜ Esports is a South American-based team that competes in a wide variety of titles, mainly VALORANT, League of Legends, and Rocket League. Of course, the biggest moment for KRÜ came when they eliminated Sentinels at the VALORANT Champions 2021 group stage.
Aymeric Laporte - AYM Esports
Another Manchester City player, Aymeric Laporte has his very own esports team known as AYM Esports. Aside from competing in League of Legends, AYM Esports also has teams that are participating in Apex Legends as well as Call of Duty. They also had a female team that competed in CS:GO. But according to a Twitlonger posted by a former player on the Apex Legends roster, AYM Esports has yet to pay the player's full salaries, which has led to some heated debates online.
David Beckham - Guild Esports
David Beckham is one such name that is synonymous with football from the early 90s to the late noughties. Since his retirement in 2013, Beckham has gone on to be a successful entrepreneur, which also includes a heavy investment into Guild Esports that saw him take up a co-ownership position. As for Guild Esports, they are heavily involved in many esports titles. This includes Rocket League, VALORANT, Fortnite, and FIFA.
