Reading FC Partners with Rival

English football club Reading FC has partnered with gaming solutions company Rival to build the team’s official gaming community Royals Esports.

Rival will power Royals Esports with its white-label enterprise platform solution that enables organisations to directly connect with and engage gamers with an always-on experience. The Rival platform will provide the club with the ability to host tournaments and offer prizes and incentives, building an evergreen Reading-branded content destination.

Royals Esports will launch on June 17 with its inaugural FIFA’21 tournament, with two competitions running side-by-side on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

“As we celebrate the 150th anniversary of our club this season and celebrate our rich history, we are really pleased to also be looking to the future and announcing the launch of our gaming community on the Rival platform. We’ll be offering fresh content, experiences and activities that will engage and build on the popularity and connection of esports and football with the gaming community,” Tim Kilpatrick, Head of Commercial at Reading FC, said.

“Rival is thrilled to partner with Reading to launch Royals Esports in its milestone season to connect with the global gaming audience. We look forward to working with the club to innovate with new programming and revenue opportunities, and to provide ways to integrate Reading’s sponsors into the platform,” Dan Parise, CMO of Rival, said.