Global Fútbol

Over the past four years, eLaLiga Santander has become one of Europe’s top gaming competitions, attracting thousands of players as well as generating content that reaches a global audience.

For millions of EA SPORTS FIFA players, this has presented a new opportunity to compete, represent the clubs of LaLiga and win significant cash prizes. While for LaLiga and clubs, the competition has created a community of young fans across its digital channels, an important step in helping introduce LaLiga and Spanish football to a new generation.

The success of the initiative was clear to see during the final of eLaLiga Santander 2020/21 which took place this month, both in terms of the entertainment that the competition offers and the impact it has made among fans, sponsors and clubs.

Multi-channel growth

To broaden the appeal of its brand, LaLiga has invested in a digital ecosystem around its gaming competition that brings it ever closer to a younger audience, while engaging traditional football fans at the same time.

This includes official eLaLiga profiles on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Twitch, the latter showing all live matches from the gaming competition. To cater to the growing number of matches it was offering, LaLiga added three new Twitch channels this season to show all matches simultaneously.

The demand for gaming content is clear to see when reviewing the audience numbers for the season. LaLiga’s dedicated gaming community, made up of fans who follow the competition on a weekly basis and interact across multiple digital channels, has grown by more than 210,000 people during 2020/21.

Added to this, the eLaLiga Santander competition has been made available to pay-TV viewers thanks to a separate agreement with Movistar, which has led to the creation of three weekly shows dedicated to gaming, including previews of the upcoming action, highlights and interviews with star players. Establishing a presence on a platform that is known primarily for football is a key part of LaLiga’s strategy to build bridges between generations of fans and increase the following of its competition.

Increased sponsor interest

As the following of gaming has grown, so too has commercial support. In 2018, LaLiga made its first agreement with Electronic Arts which became the official sponsor of eLaLiga Santander. The following year, Santander entered as title sponsor. Now, a series of sector-specific brands are also associated with the competition, including ICONIQ, Astra and PlayStation.

Working alongside some of the most recognisable names in the gaming space, LaLiga has been able to form even deeper connections with its target audiences. This in turn helps audiences to grow, which makes eLaLiga Santander an even more attractive product to new potential partners.

Doubling audience numbers

The final weekend of eLaLiga Santander demonstrated how far gaming has come in just a few years. During the weekend, LaLiga saw a peak of 21,000 spectators following the action with an average of more than 8,600 spectators.

Compared with last year’s final, this is more than double the average audience and almost double the 11,000 peak audience figures.

Similarly, the total number of hours spent viewing the competition has also doubled, from 71,000 in 2020 to more than 150,000 this season.

Real Valladolid emerged victorious

The Grand Final of eLaLiga Santander was played on May 8-9 with all 16 finalists being brought together in Barcelona under careful health and safety protocols. Underlining the appeal that the competition has now earned, the event was attended by some of the biggest names in the European gaming community such as DJMariio, Rodrigo Fáez and Toniemcee, with Spanish personalities such as Miguel Ángel Román and Rubén Martin providing the match commentary.

Over the weekend, the clubs played up to thirty games, with six reaching the Grand Final event. Real Valladolid emerged from the contest as the champion, with young gaming star Neat (also the winner of last season’s competition) defeating Sevilla FC, represented by Pepeelbotellu.

A total of €250,000 in prize money was distributed among all finalists, with €100,000 going to the overall champion, €40,000 to the runner-up and €25,000 to the third-placed team. This extended right through to those finalists finishing 13th to 16th, who received €2,500.