In the presentation of the players, the board of Internacional guaranteed that this is only the first of other announcements to come. "One of the goals is to create lines from other modalities and always give an opportunity for the ‘colorado’ fans to participate in some way of this experience."
Expectations surrounding Internacional's entry into electronic sports have been high since August 2019, when the club from Rio Grande do Sul made a marketing activation with Fortnite. Earlier this year, the club's vice president of marketing, Jorge Avancini, said that the ‘colorado’ would “enter eSports heavily.”
The trio PES is already quite popular on the national scene: Juninho was Brazilian champion in 2018; Henry was champion of the Brazilian Cup of CBFDV (Brazilian Confederation of Digital and Virtual Football) in 2019. Rodrigão, chosen as the team captain, was undefeated champion of the Liga Colorada on Xbox One.
It is no longer a big news that Brazilian football clubs get involved in electronic sport: Cruzeiro and Flamengo have franchised teams in CBLOL, while LBFF still has Corinthians. Santos, Sport, and several other names are also linked to Brazilian eSports, which have an increasing presence of traditional entities.
In virtual football, this bond is even closer: eGol is a championship that mixes traditional football clubs with video games. Atlético - MG, Flamengo, Vasco, Internacional, Corinthians, Botafogo, São Paulo and Santos.
Source: GMB
