Celtic Football Club Sign Call of Duty Esports Team

Celtic Football Club has announced they will be expanding their presence in the Esports world by signing their own professional Call of Duty team.

The new team was one of 32 teams competing in the Call of Duty World League Championship which is currently taking place (as at the time of writing) in Los Angles, California. The Call of Duty Championship will host a total prize of 2,000,000 and will be the last championship of the open ecosystem style. Unfortunately. Celtic FC Esports did not make it out of Group A as they finished the group with a 1-2 record having only won one match against Elevate.

The Celtic FC Call of Duty team roster is as follows:

• Sean "Seany" O'Connor
• Shea "QwiKeR' Sweeny
• Ben "Bance" Bance
• Byron "Nastle" Plumridge
• Sam "Chain" Dineley

The team had already qualified by taking first place in the Amateur Finals in July. Bance has competed in the Call of Duty Championship before and finished second in the 2016 tournament with his previous professional team Splyce.

Before being officially signed, the team went by the name "The Bhoys", which is also Celtic's nickname. Being able to play under the Celtic banner for both Seany and QwiKeR this is a dream come true, as they both are lifelong Celtic fans. In fact, QwiKeR was recently in attendance for Celtic FC's victory over St Johnstone.

The Call of Duty competitive league will be moving to a city-based franchise format which includes locations such as Dallas, New York, Paris, and Toronto. This is the perfect time for the team to gain "worldwide exposure" according to Miguel Pacheco who is the leader of the Esports project for Celtic FC.

"This will be a great opportunity for Celtic FC Esports to align with a world-class esports event. It will give the team worldwide exposure, before Activision converts the league into a city-based franchised model with slots going for $25m each."

Pacheco also said that Celtic FC Esports is interested in the possibility of expanding into other Esport competitions, which is a trend throughout the world.

The Esports industry is starting to gain mainstream attention as a result of huge events, such as the Fortnite World Cup which was heavily covered over the last few weeks.

Other football Clubs have already begun expanding into Esports, such as FC Barcelona and its Rocket League team, and Fc Shalke 04's League of Legends team. Several other Premier League Clubs also have professional teams competing in the FIFA.

Celtic FC will not be the last Football Club to expand into the Esports environment, and the lines between sports and Esports will continue to blur.