European financial provider Erste Group Bank has been announced as a main partner for the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) playoffs.
The provider has been working with Riot Games in order to support the growth of esports in Central and Eastern Europe, its core markets.
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The partnership will begin at the start of the playoffs for the Summer Split which is set to begin at the end of August. Estre Group Bank released a video to coincide with the deal, “showing how a young gamer overcomes initial doubts to succeed in esports.”
Peter Bosek, Chief Retail Officer for Erste Group, spoke to Esports Insider about the decision to enter esports through the LEC: “For us as a multinational Group, it was important to find a partner who is both strongly anchored in the European esports landscape and who has a clear long-term plan. We have come to stay and are already looking forward to accompanying the future development of esports with LEC – and many activations.
“We already attended the first League of Legends events in 2018 and it became increasingly clear to us that we absolutely wanted to be part of this amazing world and community. That is why we went all in for our launch, and the entire group from a total of seven countries participate in this partnership.”
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Erste Group Bank joins the likes of Secretlab, KitKat, Alienware, Kia Motors, Shell, and Foot Locker as a partner of the European competition.
Alban Dechelotte, Head of Partnerships and Business Development EMEA for Riot Games, also commented in a release: “With Erste Group as the most innovative banking group in Austria and the CEE region, we have brought a great partner on board who wants to strengthen and anchor esports in the region together with us – not only through advertising, but also as a strong infrastructure partner.”
Esports Insider says: This is yet another solid partnership secured by Riot Games, though we’ll have to see if it becomes a more permanent agreement based on the initial activation.