"Separate eSports from the football club, and establish FC Schalke 04 Esports GmbH" (A. Jobst)

"It was necessary to separate our eSports department from the registered (football) club and establish the FC Schalke 04 Esports GmbH. This company has the advantage of shorter decision paths and offers us the opportunity to be open to investors. This growth is important to our success - and it shows," stated Alexander Jobst, member of the managing board in charge of marketing of FC Schalke 04 (Bundesliga), to News Tank Football on 20/06/2019.

According to News Tank Football data, Schalke 04 was one of the first European Top 5 league football clubs to enter into eSports (launch of the team for the FIFA game on 29/05/2016), and the very first with a League of Legends team (16/05/2016). Only VfL Wolfsburg were ahead, with an eSports team for FIFA on 19/01/2016.

"Regarding the (initial) investment (into eSports), I did not have to do much convincing work within the club, but it was still an issue that we had to carefully examine first. The tolerance and the enthusiasm, especially among the young fans, is clearly noticeable. For us, eSports is not a marketing tool but an investment in…