It’s been such a thing with the national team and the topic of computer games, at least since the fateful Russian World Cup summer 2018. Since then, one of the legends surrounding the dark forest of Watutinki is that the men’s national football team had to turn off the wifi at night because they remembered The dullness of their quarter had no other choice than to play the football simulation Fifa, alternatively also Fortnite, at an advanced hour.
The members of the current squad are doing their best to demonstrate that analogue leisure activities are not neglected – there are seldom so many references to wild backgammon games on social networks as these days. But if you sit down at the console for a few minutes to relax after all the tiring moving stones and dice, then it could well happen that you will meet a valued colleague there.
Dortmund’s attacking player Marco Reus is not part of the German EM squad after he informed national coach Joachim Löw that his body would do better after a strenuous break. But Reus comes out big elsewhere in these EM days. The makers of Fortnite (one of the most successful video games of all time with more than 350 million registered players worldwide) have ennobled Dortmund by creating a virtual avatar especially for him. Now the Fortnite players can slip into the form of Reus if they want to escape the expected storm and be the last one left in survival mode. At Fortnite, Reus is now one of the “icons”, and together with Neymar and England’s attacker Harry Kane, one of the few footballers with their own skin.
This should increase Reus ‘popularity with younger fans, but may cause envy among some DFB colleagues – especially since Reus’ own abilities in the game have been heavily questioned. Last year, DFB colleague Timo Werner noted with a grin during a technical discussion on the subject that Reus was “jogging lightly” at Fortnite, although you mainly sprint. He even went into the thesis that he would win against Reus “with one hand”. After all, Dortmund’s residents can exercise a clear conscience and extensively without anyone being able to turn off the WiFi. And maybe there will come a moment at this European Championship when the national coach would like to have an “icon” in the squad as well.
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