International Esports Federation and Global Esports Federation agree to cooperate
After the not-so-shocking official announcement of Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud as the new President of the International Esports Federation, after serving as interim head since October, both the IESF and the Global Esports Federation have announced that the two entities have signed a Letter of Intent "with a focus on exploring initiatives and collaborations."
Prince Faisal's announcement as the new President of the IESF was expected, as he was already the Acting President following Vlad Marinescu's resignation. In a press release, Marinescu stated that the Saudi is the "right person to lead [the IESF]," as he "breathes and bleeds esports".
Also read: Twistzz: "If I wanted the bag & I didn’t care about my career then I would go to Falcons"Although no details were given regarding what initiatives and collaborations the federations are going to work together on, this Letter of Intent kicks down the door that was already open for a future merger, as reported by The Esports Advocate. Prince Faisal is the President of the IESF, the Vice-President of the GEF, and the President of the Saudi Esports Federation and the Arab Esports Federation.
The merger would also see the headquarters of the IESF move to Saudi Arabia from South Korea, where the Extraordinary General Meeting that officialized Prince Faisal as the new President occurred.
Recently, the Pan American Esports Championships 2023, organized by the GEF, concluded in Santiago, Chile, days before the IESF announced that the Panamerican Esports Games 2024 will be hosted in Rio de Janeiro. While GEF's PanAmerican event was a standalone tournament, IESF's competition will be used as a qualifier for the World Championship, held later in the same year, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It is unknown if the GEF will hold the same event in 2024, or if the tournament organized by the IESF is the first "initiative and collaboration" between the two entities.
