GG.BET brings traditional sports and esports together
On 23 September, an unusual event took place in Ukraine that bridged the gap between traditional sports and esports: the Match of LeGGends: Derby on a Server show match.
For the first time ever, the legendary Ukrainian football club Dynamo Kyiv took on the most successful Ukrainian esports organisation NAVI in a Counter-Strike 2 match. The event was conceived and supported by the international betting brand GG.BET and is now actively growing in the fields of esports and traditional sports. Match of LeGGends is a series of special show matches initiated by GG.BET, in which top teams play Counter-Strike with a twist. What sets the show matches in this series apart is the use of non-standard game modes and the chance for players to fight either alongside their own team, on their opponents’ team, or against everyone. Derby on a Server was the third Match of LeGGends match and the first to be played between a traditional sports team and an esports team.
For the first time ever, two titans – NAVI, a leading esports organisation both within Ukraine and around the world, and football club Dynamo Kyiv, one of the most successful clubs in Eastern Europe – came together on the same “field of play”. The show match included both the classic Counter-Strike format and non-tournament-standard formats: Arms Race and a format with mixed teams: DYNAVI and NAVIDY. Additionally, to balance out the skill difference, special rules were implemented, such as extra health points being awarded to a team if they lost three rounds. The show match also gathered the best professional Ukrainian commentators, streamers and media guests. Actively including them in analysis and match commentary helped to get coverage for the event from both local outlets and social media.
The show match was streamed on the teams’ digital platforms and on Maincast, the leading esports streaming platform in Eastern Europe. In just 24 hours, the match stream and VOD garnered over 170,000 views, comparable to streams of top esports matches.
“Match of LeGGends: Derby on a Server is one of the awesome projects that we organised as the basis of our strategy of interacting with fans in the local market. Thanks to our experience in creating partnerships and projects on the global arena, we are able to implement best practices in Ukraine, and not only develop in terms of both sports and esports, but bring the two together. A show match such as this is an investment from us in the variety of entertainment options available to Ukrainian fans, and raises the bar in the local market. We’re shaping a new culture of sports and esports events in Ukraine,” said the GG.BET press office in a statement.