The European Super League has been lambasted by the footballing community, and we now wait to see if these elite 12 clubs will continue to form the competition and if they receive any punishment from UEFA in doing so.
In terms of the gaming industry, this does throw up a few question marks as to licensing, and whether the clubs, if they break away from FIFA, would be able to appear on EA Sports' FIFA 22.
That presents a massive opportunity to Konami for PES 2022.
The story so far
12 clubs have already "signed up" to be part of the European Super League, a new European club competition that would replace the Champions League.
Three clubs are expected to join them as the founding members, with five other sides available to qualify each season, taking the tournament to a total of 20 teams.
The 12 clubs "confirmed" so far are:
- Arsenal
- Chelsea
- Liverpool
- Manchester City
- Manchester United
- Tottenham Hotspur
- Atletico Madrid
- Barcelona
- Real Madrid
- AC Milan
- Inter Milan
- Juventus
Enter PES
It is unknown as to when the ESL could commence, but this could be in practice from the 2022-23 season.
With FIFA and UEFA, among other institutions, criticising the competition, it is not unfathomable to think that the clubs playing in it could be thrown out by the various governing bodies.
This presents a huge opportunity for Konami and Pro Evolution Soccer.
Konami already has licences for four of the ESL clubs - Arsenal, Manchester United, Barcelona and Juventus.
Any clubs "thrown out" by FIFA may not be eligible to appear in EA Sports' FIFA franchise, giving Pro Evo the chance to snap them up.
Of course, whether Konami would feel this would be ethically correct given the criticism the ESL has received remains to be seen.
If the tournament does take off, it is likely to be received well outside of Europe so Konami may think it would be too big an opportunity to turn down, much like the clubs themselves.
Back-up "Option"
We could even see the ESL as soon as the current PES 2021, well, only for PlayStation and PC players.
Option Files allow users to download community-created clubs and tournaments to PES games, so there is nothing stopping someone like PES Universe for PES World from providing an Option File with the proposed Super League on it.
Watch this space to see if any outlet decides to bring the competition to light on the game.
For everything we know so far about PES 2022 head here.