A foremost multisport club in France, Paris Saint-Germain has announced a multi-year team collaboration with inspiring innovator, Talon Esports. They will compete in Riot Games’ League of Legends series in the Pacific Championship Series.
Paris Saint-Germain and Talon Esports signed a multi- year team collaboration agreement. The partnership marks an important shift in PSG’s brand diversification into the Esports arena as the first leading European football club to actively participate in the sector with the club having launched the Esports group in 2016.
Just before the structure was upgraded and revamped by Riot Games, the Parisian multi-sports giant, competed in the highly acclaimed League of Legends
Championships advancing to the launch season of PSG Esports.
“We’re delighted to kick-off this exciting partnership with Talon and to make a return to League of Legends. Esports remains one of the core pillars of the Club’s brand diversification strategy, as we look to enter the next phase of our growth plan” said Fabien Allegre, Brand Diversification and
Merchandising Director at Paris Saint- Germain. “As a young and tremendously ambitious organisation, PSG naturally saw Talon as a fitting partner. Whilst this partnership undoubtedly strengthens the Paris Saint-Germain brand visibility in our key markets, and in front of non-traditional football audiences across the globe, we are confident in building a viable Esports business within its own right. Under the leadership of our President Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the Club has long identified the value in Esports and we are committed to investing in the interests of the new generation of potential PSG fans”
The partnership will bring together the two co-branded league of Legends teams from across Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines to compete in the Pacific Championship Series.
The PCS 10 squad has joined League of Legends Master Series League of Legends SEA Tour in its inaugural season, which was released in December 2019, while Talon is the current PCS Sprint Split champion.
Sebastien Wasels, Managing Director of Asia Pacific for Paris Saint Germain Added: “Paris Saint-Germain joining forces with Talon is testament to our commitment to the region. League of Legends is a hugely important property on a global scale but particularly within Asia. We look forward to challenging within the PCS and hopefully the World Finals too, and to adding value to our regional partners in new ways”
Having been launched approximately ten years ago, League of Legends continues to be the world’s number one, most popular PC game, attracting players of up to 8m concurrent players daily, spread across 145 countries. Millions around the world watch Massive Online Battle Arena (MOBA), attracting around 100 million one-off viewers in the 2019 Annual World Finals. Riot Games Developer is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese multinational giant, Tencent Holdings.
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The PSG Talon will be playing under the “PSG” label and the winners of the PCS Spring Split will look to qualify immediately for the 2020 World Finals scheduled for September / October in Shanghai. The Joint Organization will strive to achieve competitive successes, focusing on talent development and a physically and mentally fit approach to the arena of competitive gaming.
PSG talon will work jointly on commercial partnerships and on the regional creation of content through its business teams and content at both of the respective partner organisations.
Sean Zhang CEO of Talon Esports commented “We recognize that our fans appreciate performance above anything else, so to partner with a club with the history and pedigree of PSG means taking our game to new levels. We are super excited for the journey ahead and look forward to the success we can create together”
