ERGO is extending its partnership with the DFB Cup to sponsor the new, virtual version of the popular club competition. As a title partner of the inaugural “DFB eCup powered by ERGO”, the insurer will always be part of the action when future eCup winners are decided on consoles throughout Germany.
eFootball has been long established in Germany, with a growing community of devoted fans. A number of competitions, including the European Football Championship, are now conducted in cyberspace too. The DFB Cup, whose David and Goliath principle has been transferred to eFootball, will be a further addition in future. Teams playing in the colours of their registered football club, will have the chance to win the DFB Cup for gamers. This makes the DFB the first national association worldwide to stage a national eFootball competition – with ERGO at its side.
That’s because ERGO is the title partner of the new “DFB eCup powered by ERGO”, the inaugural final of which is scheduled for spring 2021 in Berlin. “You need courage and the right backing if you want to achieve great things,” says Dr. Michael Kehl, Head of Corporate Development in the ERGO Group AG. “That applies for both the DFB eCup project and for the participating gamer community. We are very excited to be providing our support for both cup competitions now.”
For the first time ever in German football history, online fans can help decide on the design and appearance of the winner’s trophy. The result, the DFB eCup, will be presented as a prototype to the community at the inaugural final in spring 2021.
DFB General Secretary, Dr. Friedrich Curtius, is also looking forward to the kick-off of the project, which has involved more than two years of intensive preparation: “After the establishment of our eNationalteam about one and a half years ago, and the successful launch of the dfb-efootball.de platform, the start of the DFB eCup now represents the next important step for the DFB in the area of eFootball. I am happy that, with ERGO, we have the support of a company in eFootball that has been a reliable partner for the DFB Cup for many years. We are both convinced that the thrilling cup duels we are familiar with from the DFB Cup will prove equally exciting on the virtual pitch.”
The DFB eCup powered by ERGO starts on 14 November 2020 when the qualifying tournaments kick off. The best 32 teams per console will then move into the main round.