Just a matter of days after La Liga announced plans for its very first esports competition, it’s confirmed a partnership with McDonald’s.
Together they’ve created McDonald’s Virtual La Liga eSports – alongside with the Liga de Videojuegos Profesional (LVP) – which itself is set up to be a gateway competition to find a representative in the FIFA 18 eWorld Cup.
The first stage of the online qualification process will kick off on March 19th for both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 players, and is open to anybody over the age of 16. It will be played on ArenaGG, a gaming platform from LVP. There are 32 places available for the in-person final stage: 16 from Xbox, 15 from PlayStation, and the final participant will qualify through an exclusive tournament ran by McDonald’s.
The second part of the tournament is set to commence on April 16th, and will take place at the LVP venue in Barcelona. The 32 participants who qualify will compete each and every week until they’re knocked out of the tournament. The winner of each event will make it through to the EA SPORTS FIFA 18 Global Series Playoffs. Players can sign up here.
La Liga will also be partnering with department store El Corte Ingles, financial services company Allianz, car manufacturer Hyundai, and mobile network operator Orange for its first official foray into esports.
Esports Insider says: It makes complete sense for La Liga to follow in the footsteps of other football leagues, such as Ligue 1, the Bundesliga, the Australian A-League, the MLS and others, in allowing the nation’s best players a chance to battle it out for a spot in the FIFA eWorld Cup. It’s a clever first move for La Liga Esports, and this collection of initial partners isn’t too shabby either.