It is reported that FC Barcelona will set foot in Valorant esports, debuting a Challengers team in Spain’s competition in 2024 season.
In the 2023 off-season, according to Riot’s revelation, Valorant’s tier two ecosystem underwent modifications with major transitions witnessed in the Challengers Leagues, involving the Premier system, extended schedule, and introducing Affiliate teams.
Despite several organizations pulling out of Valorant’s tier two Challengers series across various regions, some organizations like SK Gaming made a public announcement about their upcoming participation in the Challengers.
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Renowned football club, FC Barcelona, is rumored to be next in line to join the Challengers series in Spain’s competition as part of a novel endeavor.
Lembo tweets, “FC Barcelona will have a Valorant team in 2024 to compete in LVP Rising. This will be part of the club’s latest Barça games initiative.”
Valorant reporter, Lembo, discloses that Barcelona is prepping to join the Spanish Challengers League in 2024 season under their new Barça Games initiative.
Barça Games, unveiled on November 9th, is a novel undertaking by the football club in association with Mas Ros Media and FireSPORTS that aims to provide a new platform for games, streaming content, including TV series, documentaries, and movies.
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Planned to be launched in early April, Barça Games is also speculated to include content from their other esports teams.
Under the supervision of Barça Esports, Barcelona engaged a team to compete in the LVP Superliga for League of Legends, Spanish League’s second-tier competition, since 2022. Since 2019, Barcelona maintained a Rocket League team engaging in various LANs, but the team dismantled in late 2021.
Simultaneously, Barcelona legend Lionel Messi announced his co-ownership of KRÜ Esports along with Sergio Agüero. KRÜ is currently holding a VCT Partnership slot and is competing in VCT Americas.
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The Challengers circuit is anticipated to initiate by the beginning of February 2024, yet, it is uncertain whether the Spanish league will organize an open qualifier or invite teams again as in 2023.