Belgian soccer’s Pro League has today teamed up with international subscription broadcaster Eleven Sports, its domestic rights partner, to launch a new esports competition along with the third edition of the Proximus ePro League. 

The new Pro League eCup will involve Pro League players, as well as fans, competing in a series of 16 online competitions played on the FIFA video game. 

Eleven, the league’s media rights partner, will be the title sponsor of the tournament. 

The competition is supported by the Pro League’s media partners Sporza, the Belgian multimedia outlet, and La Dernière Heure, the French-language newspaper. 

The winner of the Pro League eCup will receive a gamer contract for the 2021-2022 season with Eleven Sports. 

The Proximus ePro League will also be kicking off its third season featuring all 18 top-flight Belgian clubs.

From 16 December, a player from each club will play the virtual match that is scheduled for their club for the coming match day. 

After 17 match days, the top eight players will compete against each other in a knock-out competition to determine the 2020-2021 Proximus ePro League champion.

This season, the players will play all of their games online due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. 

Eleven Sports will broadcast these matches live on its dedicated Pro League channels and on Youtube. Additional content such as reports, highlights and interviews will also be made available.

Telecoms firm Proximus today also extended its deal as title sponsor of the ePro League for another five seasons. 

In addition, the Belgian league has also announced the launch of the ePro League Supercup, which will feature a contest between the winners of the Proximus ePro League and the Pro League eCup in an inaugural edition in July 2021.

Pierre François, chief executive of the Pro League, said: “In this third season, the Proximus ePro League is entering a new phase. Proximus remains on board as a loyal partner, but the support of our media partner Eleven Sports means that we can strengthen and renew our e-sports story. The launch of the Pro League eCup will be a real event and will only make the esports community bigger.”

The Pro League’s esports endeavours further strengthen its relationship with both Eleven and Proximus. 

The league signed a five-year domestic rights deal with Eleven in March until the end of the 2024-25 season, while Proximus, one of three telecoms firms which held rights to the Pro League last season, continues to provide coverage of the competition through a distribution deal with Eleven.

Eleven has had a carriage deal with Proximus since its launch in Belgium in 2015 and further enhanced its own relationship with the company by agreeing a partnership with its Proximus Media House production arm to produce the broadcaster’s dedicated new channels for the Pro League.

Sportcal