IO – Konami Digital Entertainment Limited has officially announced today the signing of a long-term, exclusive partnership with AS Roma, the top-flight Italian football club. The collaboration can be accessed through eFootball PES 2021 Season Update (PES 2021), which will be released on 15 September 2020 for PlayStation®4, Xbox One™, and PC STEAM.
The AS Roma team name, crest and official kits will be fully exclusive to the eFootball PES series, making eFootball PES 2021 SEASON UPDATE (PES 2021) the only console football video game to feature the Italian heavyweights. In addition, the long-time home of AS Roma, Stadio Olimpico, has been passionately recreated in-game by KONAMI’s talented artists and designers, will also be fully exclusive to PES 2021. Authenticity is central to the franchise and so the company strives to deliver an experience that will make “I Giallorossi” (The Yellow and Reds – AS Roma nickname) proud.
Jonas Lygaard, Senior Director Brand & Business Development at Konami Digital Entertainment B.V. commented, “We have a long history of championing Italian football through the eFootball PES series and we’re proud and humbled that AS Roma is the latest to join that legacy. This year’s PES 2021 will be the only console video game with a truly authentic recreation of the club, but it’s also just the start of what will be a long and fruitful partnership.”
AS Roma, founded in 1927, has consistently performed at the highest standards of Italian football and is one of the most popular clubs in the region. The club has won Serie A three times, the Coppa Italia nine times and the Supercoppa Italiana twice. Through this partnership with KONAMI, AS Roma intend to take full advantage of their new partnership, promoting Roman football to a global audience through a variety of initiatives, including future involvement in e-sports projects.
“We are delighted to welcome KONAMI, world-leading company in the design and development of video games and eSports, to our family. Thanks to this agreement we will be able to implement the volume of interactive experiences and the involvement of the new innovations of the Giallorossi fans all over the world. We are already working hard with the new partner to set the activities for the coming months and to support the launch of PES 2021 with various activations. In the Club, we are sure that KONAMI will be the perfect strategic partner for the development of the activities that will involve the AS Roma eSports team, which is increasingly aimed at the public who loves football videogames,” Giorgio Brambilla, CRO AS Roma stated.
Aside from being the only console football video game to feature the Italian heavyweights, PES 2021 will also be the first in video game history to feature two of football’s greatest legends in its cover; FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo. Continuing eFootball PES’ legacy of championing young elite talent, the cover also features Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford and FC
Bayern’s Alphonso Davies. All four ambassadors also feature in the brand-new Club Editions.