Esports is growing by numbers and personas. It’s not just 14-year-olds these days, but it’s also adults. It’s now even considered a profession for some.

This is prompting players to invest more in esports both as an investment opportunity or in their careers after football. For example, the last player mentioned is Mesut Ozil who will be trying to win on Fortnite E-Sports. 

Nowadays, due to the growth people can also bet on e-sport on games such as CS GO, Dota etc. In fact it’s estimated to reach a market size of 24, 190 million USD by 2028.

Bookmakers also provide welcome offers such as the Ladbrokes sign-up offer, where you will need to deposit at least £5 and place a bet with odds of at least 1/2. Once you do so, you will get a £20 free bet which you need to use within 14 days. 

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A Very Attractive New Industry

The eSports industry is evidently on the rise, and there are several reports saying that it is worth more than £940 million, which is a stunning sum. What is more, this number is expected to grow even further with the emergence of digital advertising in several live events in the coming years.

There are some forecasts that say that the industry will grow each year by 17.5% by 2030, so it is easy to see why so many big names start to invest in the esports market.

The business increase of the esports market is also helped by the number of fans that tune in to the sport. At the moment, it is expected that the esports fan base will reach 1 billion people by the end of 2025.

Moreover, there are several publications and tournaments that look set to show that esports is the future of competitive entertainment. There are new audiences hitting the industry all the time, and more and more news outlets are created to deliver the latest news in the sector.

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Footballers as Investors

Esports has been a hit among all types of celebrities, including football players. Often, players will act as the faces of brands, teams, and companies in the world of professional esports gaming. As well as being just faces, it is often that you will find these guys investing in the industry.

Let’s take a closer look at which are some of the football players that are active participants in businesses operating in the esports market.

Sergio Aguero

Sergio Aguero is one of the best strikers to ever grace the football pitch, and nowadays, he acts as the CEO of KRU Esports. It is an organization that is based in both Argentina and Spain, countries where Aguero was active in his playing days.

There are several competitions that the organization is active in, such as Rocket League, VALORANT, and FIFA. After Aguero announced his retirement, he has been more active in the esports industry, and he seems content with this choice.

Mesut Ozil

We already mentioned Ozil above, and he seems to be the most active esports player at the moment. He owns a professional eSports team active in FIFA and several Fortnite events that is known as the M10 Team.

He founded the organization in 2018, and at the moment, the M10 team focuses mainly on finding and developing talents in eSports.

Casemiro

The Real Madrid midfielder founded CaseEsports back in October 2020. At the moment, he owns two teams, one for FIFA and the other for VALORANT. The organization has offices in Spain, and Casemiro is also an ambassador of HyperX, which is a gaming tech company.

Dele Alli

Dele Alli was once named as EXCEL ESPORTS’ first global ambassador in 2020 after he signed a partnership deal with the organization. Currently, Dele Alli plays his trade at Everton, but he seems very active in the eSports industry.

Cesar Azpilicueta

Azpilicueta is one of the most experienced players in the Premier League, and he looks to fill his free time with his own eSports team. The team is called Falcons, and he formed it in 2020. It competes in FIFA.

David Beckham

David Beckham is one of the most popular names on our list. He is the co-owner of the eSports talent development agency called Guild Esports. The company was launched in 2020, and a year later, the Guild Academy was formed, which is an online eSports training subscription service.

Bend it like Beckham. Or probably more accurately, be a boss like Beckham.

UK soccer legend David Beckham is launching his own media company called Studio 99. Studio 99 plans to develop documentaries, TV shows, and other media, and the company has recently partnered with UNINTERRUPTED, a media company started by LeBron James and Maverick Carter in 2014.

Studio 99’s mission is along the same lines of UNINTERRUPTED, so it is no surprise as to why the two celebrity-athletes in Beckham and James linked up.

Let’s Get it!! Partnering with my main man @davidbeckham #studio99 x @uninterrupted #weglobalnow #striveforgreatness
https://t.co/YKcwfhvcqg

— LeBron James (@KingJames) July 10, 2019

Studio 99 and UNINTERRUPTED are co-producing a documentary about Inter Miami CF, a Major League Soccer expansion team that began playing in the major league in the 2020 season and of which Beckham is co-owner.

David Beckham is well known for his soccer skills, his pop icon wife, and yes, his dashingly good looks. Beckham was as big of a soccer star as they came in the late ’90s and early 2000s, even inspiring the aforementioned movie, Bend It Like Beckham.

https://youtu.be/m0OwQJYOamA

The Brit played the majority of his soccer career for Manchester United and Real Madrid.

Studio 99 also looks to develop other documentaries in different sports stories, fashion, and travel, some of which will feature the UK soccer star. The company is currently based in London alongside David Beckham Ventures.

In its brief history, UNINTERRUPTED has shown itself to be a company prided on athlete-empowerment and authenticity. The premise of the company is to give athletes and others a platform to speak up on issues of their liking, which not long ago, they didn’t really have.

With this partnership, Studio 99 gets a blueprint of how to create quality projects and content. Judging by their Instagram stories, Beckham and James are both stoked for this collaboration.

Vem coisa boa por aí! #NBAnaESPN

LeBron James e David Beckham fecham parceria e vão lançar documentáriohttps://t.co/G4ccc2EuJK pic.twitter.com/iNyuu2r7Nn

— ESPN Brasil (@ESPNBrasil) July 10, 2019

Beckham retired from professional soccer in 2013, with tears in his eyes because of how much he loved the game.

Not to say he wasn’t involved with outside projects during his playing career, but now Beckham is fully on the business side of things. James has shown that he can manage his superstar play on the court, while also lending a helping hand in his projects off the court.

Both Beckham and James are in a stage of life where they are focused on more than just sports. This partnership illustrates their respect for one another.

David Beckham is set to announce his new MLS team on Monday after the league ratified his application for a franchise in Miami.

After a protracted four-year saga to figure out a proper stadium site, and multiple legal battles in South Florida, it looks like Beckham and his team have finally gotten a satisfactory deal.

The Miami-Herald reported that Beckham was aided in his bid through the intervention of Mayor Carlos Giminez, whose “administration negotiated a deal for the Beckham partnership to purchase three acres of county land in Overtown,” according to The Herald.

The Herald reported on the new stadium site:

“Beckham was last in Miami for an event with Gimenez in early 2014, when he hoped to secure a stadium deal with the county-owned Port Miami. The cruise industry blocked that effort, leading to failed bids for stadiums at the Miami waterfront and next to Marlins Park in Little Havana. The Overtown site sits a few blocks from the Miami River, where Northwest Sixth Street meets Sixth Avenue. The 25,000-seat stadium would be privately financed.”

But not everyone is happy about the new deal. In October, a judge threw out a suit over the potential site:

“Bruce Matheson, a wealthy activist who owns property near the planned stadium site in Overtown, sued the county, arguing that he should have been given the chance to purchase the three-acre parcel during a competitive bidding process. County lawyers argued that Miami-Dade was shielded from bidding rules by Florida’s economic development law, which gives local governments broad authority to sell property if it will benefit the economy.”

Although Bruce Matheson is sick, the potential of an MLS franchise in Miami appears limitless. With a massive Hispanic population and young demographics, there’s a natural fan base built into the fabric of the city.

Also, with Beckham at the helm, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of star power Miami can bring to the squad.

We’ll await further updates from Beckham’s official announcement on Monday.