SPD Top Politicians Visit the Esports Player Foundation

As part of the election campaign for the office of Mayor of Cologne, the esports player foundation welcomed SPD candidate and former DOSB chairman Torsten Burmester to its headquarters. He was accompanied by prominent party colleagues, including SPD co-leader Saskia Esken and Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach.

With early parliamentary elections on the horizon, the party headquarters in Berlin is also in full campaign mode. Against this backdrop, Esken and Lauterbach seized the opportunity to visit the foundation together with Torsten Burmester and engage in discussions with Jörg Adami, co-founder and CEO of the esports player foundation, and his team. According to Adami’s social media posts, the talks revolved around the social potential of esports.

Burmester’s interest in gaming is certainly welcome, though not entirely surprising. After all, Cologne’s Mayor traditionally attends the opening of gamescom. The current mayor, Henriette Reker, has been part of the political opening for years. After ten years in office, 2025 is likely to be the last time that Reker will co-open gamescom. The independent politician has decided not to run for office again after two terms.

However, there is another reason why Burmester's visit to the esports player foundation stands out: the candidate was chairman of the Deustcher Olympischer Sportbund (DOSB; translated German Olympic Sports Confederation; the German NOC) until December 2024 and resigned from office to stand for election. The DOSB is critical of classic games as esports and only speaks of esports in connection with gaming simulation of existing sports. Titles like LoL are considered e-gaming by the DOSB.