Bavarian Esports Association Offers Cooperation to Politicians

The esports project for Euro 24, recently presented by the Bavarian Ministry for Digital Affairs and the Bavarian Football Association, seems to have bypassed the young Bavarian Esports Association. The association is surprised and is reaching out to politicians for cooperation.

Just a few days ago, it was announced that the Bavarian Minister for Digital Affairs would support an esports tournament organised by the Bayerischer Fußballverband (BFV; Bavarian Football Association) for Euro 2024 with €450,000. The project is likely to be implemented at relatively short notice. It was only a few weeks ago that the Bavarian Digital Minister first hinted that something was being planned for the European football championships in Bavaria in the area of e-sports. Nothing else was heard about the project "E-Sport trifft auf Fußballvereine im Rahmen der EM 2024" (esports meets Football Clubs during the Euro 2024) in the run-up to the announcement.

Now it has emerged that the local esports community was not involved in the implementation. A press release states: "The E-Sport Verband Bayern (Bavarian Esports Association is surprised by the latest announcement [...]". However, it is hardly surprising that they are not involved in the project. For one thing, the Bavarian E-Sport Association was only founded last November, so it may not even be on the radar of the Bavarian Football Association.

On the other hand, there are very different opinions on esports between the sports and esports associations at the federal level, which also has an impact on the work of the state associations. The BFV also tends to talk about eFootball rather than esports, but the Bavarian Esports Association is still hoping for a positive boost from the funding.

At the same time, it is positioning itself towards the political sphere: "We hope that this initiative is the beginning of a more comprehensive support of esports in all its diversity," says Sandra Bloy, President of the Bavarian Esports Association. The association is looking forward to following the development of the project and is ready to "work together with the Ministry of Digital Affairs and other partners to further promote e-sports in Bavaria".