Brazilian Soccer Club Coritiba Forms A Dota 2 Team

It’s nothing new to see prominent sports clubs enter the world of esports, but every time it happens, it’s big news for the world of esports.

The latest club to dip its toes in competitive video games is Coritiba, a Brazilian soccer club that announced the signing of Spirits squad, a Dota 2 team that will compete in the second division of the regional DPC.

A Brazilian Dota 2 squad, formerly of Spirits, has been signed by Coritiba Foot Ball Club, which expanded into esports on Tuesday, May 31. As revealed, the newly-formed squad will consist of Lucas “hyko” Morais, Giovanni “Jupiter” Ramos Pereira, Caio “Nuages” Oliveira, Pedro “mini” Rezende, and Jean “Mr.Jeans” Natividad, who were most recently seen competing under the Spirits banner.

The quartet consists of some of the most well-known names from the South American Dota 2 scene, including former members of LATAM’s top Dota 2 teams.

Mini, Jupiter and Nuages were formerly a part of the APU King of Kings lineup that competed in the upper division of the South American DPC division. The squad kicked off the season well and placed fourth in the regional finals in February, but unfortunately, success has been hard to come by since.

APU King of Kings could only manage a seventh-eighth place finish at BTS Pro Series Season 10: Americas and completely fell apart in the DPC SA 2021/2022 Tour 2: Division I. The team finished the second tour in seventh place and got relegated to the second division, leading to the squad’s disbandment.

Mini, Jupiter, Nuages, Kaue “dunha1” Gabriel Camuci de Limam and Benny “Benny” Cervantes ended up leaving APU King of Kings and formed a new team, Spirits. The newly-formed team would eventually go through a couple of roster changes, replacing Benny and dunha1 with hyko and Mr. Jeans.

Even though Spirits have yet to play a professional match, the team secured professional contracts with Coritiba Foot Ball Club, which decided to enter the ever-growing world of esports. However, Coridiba is not the first and only soccer club to take this step.

Nowadays, many sports clubs are looking for a way to form their esports divisions, a movement that started with Paris Saint-Germain, the pioneer of this movement with its PSDG.LGD division. The French soccer club entered the esports world in April 2018 when it entered a title partnership with a Chinese esports organization, LGD.

Since then, PSG has expanded its presence in the esports world by forming FIFA to go along with the club’s identity. But it didn’t stop there.

PSG also entered League of Legends by linking with Honk Kong club Talon Esports in June 2020, and further expanded its presence in the esports world in July 2021 by launching a professional Arena of Valor team in Thailand.

Currently, Pairs Sint Germain fields esports teams in six esports titles, including FIFA, Dota 2, League of Legends, Arena of Valor, Fortnite, and Rainbow Six Siege, which was formed in March 2022.

Other prominent soccer that followed PSG’s footsteps include AS Monaco, which struck a strategic partnership with Gambit Esports to form a Dota 2 team, AS Monaco Gambit. Even though the AS Monaco Gambit roster recently disbanded, the French soccer club remains involved in the esports world with other projects.

That mainly includes its Rocket League team, PES team, and a FIFA team.

Now it’s Coridiba’s turn to introduce its culture to Dota 2, as the Brazilian sports club looks to expand its presence into unknown territory. It remains to be seen whether Coritiba Foot Ball Club will look to expand further and field esports teams in other titles, but the decision will likely depend on the success of its Dota 2 roster.

Coridiba’s Dota 2 team will compete in the second division of SA DPC, which is slated to resume on June 6.