From Pelé’s Soccer to FIFA eWorld Cup: The Rise of Esports in Professional Football

Since the first video simulation games of professional football (soccer) in the 1970s, the developments of the football simulation games continued in the last decades and changed the game of football forever. With virtual sports integrated in the Olympic Movement, the sports ecosystem radically transformed with the virtual equivalents of the traditional sports games. The virtual games of football have grown into the most impactful esports of simulated professional sports. Nevertheless, there is a large gap between the developments of the global esports industry within the ecosystem of sports and the related academic inquiry in research and education. Therefore the rise of esports as simulation of professional sports is examined from a historical perspective. The parallels of football’s global processes and historical globalization dynamics resulted in four stages of globalization in football, including digital, social, geographical, and commercial globalization. Similarities and differences were drawn between football and football esports to understand the historical developments as pre-requisite to prepare for the future of modern sports.