Astralis remain the only organization in Counter-Strike history with four Major titles to its name. The legendary run at the end of the last decade was followed by much leaner years, and the Danish brand has been slowly clawing its way back ever since. Now it has two new names on the cap table – and one of them plays in goal for Real Madrid.
Astralis announced that Thibaut Courtois and Gonzalo Vila are joining Fusion Esports Group as investors. The deal runs through NXTPLAY, the company Vila leads as CEO. For NXTPLAY it is the first joint move into esports; until now the portfolio leaned heavily toward football, with clubs like Le Mans FC, CD Extremadura and KRC Genk.
Who is actually behind Astralis now
Fusion Esports Group bought the Danish organization last year. At the top of the group sit two well-known esports figures, Jakob Lund Kristensen and Jonas Gundersen, but the money the scene runs on has to come from outside – and that is exactly the gap the new investors are filling.
- Thibaut Courtois – goalkeeper of Real Madrid and a two-time Champions League winner, who has already founded his own simracing team, TC Esports.
- Gonzalo Vila – CEO of NXTPLAY, the vehicle through which the investment into Fusion Esports Group is being made.
What it means for fans
Counter-Strike is one of the biggest titles in esports and the competition at the top is merciless. For Astralis, the fresh capital is above all about financial stability – the base they need if they want to get back into the fight for the most prestigious trophies. There is no talk of a roster move here; this is a shift on the ownership side, the kind that decides how much runway a team has.
How brutal the environment around the top level can get is something we have covered from several angles, from the Brazilian gambling ban to the tight race for the PGL Major.
Footballers in esports are nothing new
Courtois is not exactly a pioneer here. David de Gea runs his own organization, Rebels Gaming, so the two keepers now have a rivalry off the pitch as well. And plenty of other football names show up across esports in various roles. The most hardcore of them is Neymar, who has over 10,000 hours logged in Counter-Strike alone and has met pro players in person more than once.
Where to go next
If you want to keep track of everything happening around the game, we collect it all in our Counter-Strike 2 news, and we also wrote about the organizations building their rosters, for example ENCE and allu.
FAQ
Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and Gonzalo Vila, the CEO of NXTPLAY. Both are coming in as investors in Fusion Esports Group, the group that owns Astralis.
A company led by Gonzalo Vila, through which the investment into Fusion Esports Group is being made. Astralis now sits in its portfolio alongside football clubs Le Mans FC, CD Extremadura and KRC Genk.
Yes. Until now the focus was mainly on football, so Astralis is the first joint investment into esports for Courtois and Vila.
The announcement is about ownership and funding, not players. The goal is financial stability that would help the organization get closer to fighting for the biggest trophies again.
He has. In the past he founded the simracing team TC Esports, but Counter-Strike is a very different environment for him.