David Beckham’s esports team launches

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Guild Esports, a new esports talent agency co-owned by former England, Manchester United and Real Madrid footballer David Beckham, has announced its launch.

The company aims to develop a talent pool in the UK by using a traditional academy model to coach players and help them build their skills to compete in professional events internationally.

It will use a network of scouts to find new talent and build a squad of esports players across different disciplines, including in leading games Fifa, Fortnite and Rocket League. It hopes for its inaugural team to make a professional debut by this autumn.

David Beckham said:

“Throughout my career I’ve been lucky enough to work with players at the top of their game, and I’ve seen first-hand the passion and dedication it takes to play at that level. I know that determination lives in our esports athletes today and at Guild we have a vision to set a new standard, supporting these players into the future. We are committed to nurturing and encouraging youth talent through our academy systems and I am looking forward to helping our Guild Esports team grow.”

Guild’s Executive Chairman is Carleton Curtis, the man behind the Overwatch League and Call Of Duty leagues.

“The meteoric rise of esports shows no signs of slowing down and this is the perfect moment for Guild Esports to enter this exciting market. We have built an experienced management team and I am proud to have David Beckham as co-owner in this venture as his professionalism and deep experience of developing high-functioning sports teams aligns with our core strategy of building the best in class esports teams. Esports is already one of the most popular spectator sports on Earth and will continue to grow globally as excitement, accessibility and knowledge of the sector soars.”

The company’s branding has been developed by Fergus Purcell, who worked with streetwear brand Palace. Betting on esports has seen significant growth during the Covid-19 pandemic. It has yet to be seen how the trend will continue now that traditional sporting events have begun to resume, but many observers expect to see esports betting continue to grow as a niche market.