FC Barcelona reportedly entering Valorant esports in 2024 season

FC Barcelona is reportedly entering Valorant esports with a Challengers team playing in the Spanish league in the 2024 season.

During the 2023 off-season, Riot has been updating Valorant’s tier two ecosystem with big changes coming to the Challengers Leagues, integrating the Premier system, an updated lengthier schedule, and Affiliate teams. 

Despite the waves of organizations backing out of Valorant’s tier two Challengers circuit in various regions, several orgs like SK Gaming have announced their entry into Challengers.

FC Barcelona, one of the biggest football clubs in the world, is reportedly next to enter the Challengers circuit in the Spanish league as part of a new initiative. 

According to Valorant reporter Lembo, Barcelona plans to enter the Spanish Challengers League in the 2024 season as part of their new Barça Games initiative. 

Announced on November 9, Barça Games is a new project by the football club in collaboration with Mas Ros Media and FireSPORTS as a new platform to offer games, streaming content, and including TV series, documentaries, and movies. 

Barça Games is slated to launch in early April, and will most likely also include content from their other esports teams. 

Under Barça Esports, Barcelona has had a team competing in the LVP Superliga in League of Legends, the tier two Spanish League, since 2022. Barcelona also had a Rocket League team since 2019 making various LANs, however, disbanded in late 2021. 

This news comes as Lionel Messi, a club legend for Barcelona, announced his co-ownership of KRÜ Esports with Sergio Agüero. KRÜ currently has a VCT Partnership slot and is competing in VCT Americas. 

The Challengers circuit is slated to start at the start of February 2024, however, it is unsure if the Spanish league will operate an open qualifier or if teams would be invited once again similar to 2023.