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VfB Stuttgart has joined the list of football teams to take a spin on FIFA, with Erhan ‘Dr Erhano’ Kayman and Marcel ‘Marlut’ Lutz signing with the team to represent the Bundesliga club in the digital beautiful game.
VfB Stuttgart are the third Bundesliga team to take the plunge on esports, although they also compete in hockey, table tennis, track and field and fistball. They’ve got a strong record in multiple sports, and four of the clubs 31 partners will be following them across into esports too, with Fischer, Schunk, Barmer and Puma all new working with the new esports venture.
The partnership was agreed by agency STARK eSports, and it’s exciting to see not just sports adjacent brands like Puma, but also completely non-endemic brands continuing their sponsorship deals into an esports landscape.
In a press release, Jochen Röttgermann, a VfB board member, said in a statement: "Entering FIFA esports, and thus, a steadily growing sphere with an immensely interesting demographic, adds to our core activity, soccer, and is a natural fit into the virtual world. Gaming isn’t just popular among the younger generation but also a focus for many companies, who want to bolster their brand popularity, just like VfB Stuttgart."
