Former director of the Czech Post, former member of CSA’s top management and until 2018 executive vice president of the European part of the Chinese CEFC group (now CITIC) Marcela Hrdáwhich is closely related to Jaroslav Tvrdík, embarked on activities around the professional playing of video games (sports). Together with former director of the state IT company NAKIT Alan Ilczyszyn stands for the newly formed organization Czech Electronic Sport Association (CESA). She would like to connect with state activities and money.
“From the point of view of the state, we want to bring esports to the level of ordinary sports. That would mean more money. But we would not want money from sports budgets. For Milan Hnilička (Head of the National Sports Agency – editor’s note) we will definitely not go, “Ilczyszyn describes for Lupa in the office on Wenceslas Square, where his company Vyker operates.
Vyker operates as a joint-stock company with which two other companies, Vyker Management and Vyker Investment, are connected. Ilczyszyn and Hrdá figure here as partners and executives. It then sits on the Supervisory Board Jiří Zmatlík, who previously served as Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of NAKIT. Proud also had in the past on JEWELERY influence. It is a state-owned company under the Ministry of the Interior, where Hrdá also had good contacts thanks to the previous management of the Czech Post. NAKIT will be in 2016 merged with the ICT Services Branch of the Post Office. Hrdé’s connection with Ilczyszyn was often talked about behind the scenes.
Trojice Hrdá, Ilczyszyn and Zmatlík are also behind United Sport Partners. The sports and marketing agency, which has been operating for years, was taken over in March this year. In June, the CESA sports association was established. One of the three founders is United Sport Partners, the others are the University of Mining – Technical University of Ostrava (VŠB-TUO) and the Ostrava IT distributor AT Computers.
Connect to the state and money
“Personally, I have never been more interested in sports, but rather in sports as such. I was interested in this topic by the Asian company Yes! E-Sports, which organizes various sports events and was looking for a partner for activities in Europe. So far, we have signed a memorandum with them, “recalls Ilczyszyn.
CESA started its activities even though a similar entity already operates on the Czech scene. It’s about Czech Association of Sports (CAE) led Lukáš Pleskot (PlayZone or esport on Prime). Among other things, the CAE is a member of international organizations, so it can form representations for official foreign events and the like. ”In my opinion, this association is perceived on the market as representing its commercial interests. But the community called for an independent institution, “explains Ilczyszyn’s motivation for starting CESA. He does not say how specifically a commercially competitive association behaves.
Ilczyszyn also states that he took over United Sport Partners, which is behind CESA, “as part of Vyker’s investment activities”. He goes on to say that “CESA is not a business tool for us, but will help the growth of the entire industry,” and that a larger market should present more business opportunities.
In any case, the former head of NAKIT often returns to wanting to connect more with the state. “We want to explain the sport to politicians. We are also talking to the Ministry of Education whether it would be possible to develop an official methodology for teaching sports, “he describes. This could allegedly lead, for example, to the creation of sports clubs in schools that would be professionally run. It would then probably be possible to draw state contributions for these and other activities.
“Again, we want to debate with Prague about the creation of community sports centers. The money could also come from cities, “explains Ilczyszyn. “Yes, CESA can theoretically be compared to a football association,” he answers the question.
State register of players
CESA is said to be contacting an unnamed sports organization soon. Whether it will be “Tvrdíkova” Slavia, who threw herself into the sport this year, unclear. Cooperation with one of the television stations is also being prepared.
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CESA also wants to create an official register of athletes, which would be linked to state registers. “We like things like the National Identity Authority (NIA) or BankID. ”There are also words about the establishment of streaming centers and the involvement of corporations.
Pleskot’s CAE is also trying to get sports to the state level. As we wrote at Lupa, this association would also like to built structures for player education, competitions and reached for money. But Ilczyszyn believes that it is his CESA that can be more successful here, thanks to his knowledge and contacts in state administration. This is an asset that Proud and he have.
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CESA is also to benefit from the fact that the University of Ostrava VŠB-TUO has become one of the founding members. This allegedly brought credibility to negotiations with the state and other partners. VŠB is the first university in the Czech Republic to work on an sports study program and has a laboratory of professional gaming (according to information from Lupa, Masaryk University is also preparing for sports, the area was taken over by the vice-rector Radim Polčák). CESA also includes Sports Student Associationwhich, among other things, is behind the university championship.
“Within two years, we want to gain a community of one hundred thousand players. Today, there are sixteen legal entities at CESA, which bring together about twenty thousand players, “adds Ilczyszyn.
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