La Nación / With the aim of returning to a World Cup

Nobody imagined that one day fortunes would be paid to compete in video games, when for years they were considered a way to waste time. In the world, gaming is not only an entertainment industry but it is gaining its place within sports.

Although in Paraguay there is still a long way to go, there are many competitors who are waiting for the step they will take in Esports, electronic sports. And this could be monetized, because a person could earn more than US$5,000 thanks to video games.

One of them is a 22-year-old Iván Argüello, a young Paraguayan who is part of an international Esports team, Valorant, the best-known video game among the International Leagues that allows him to participate in the 2023 VTC EMEA League in Berlin. He is currently the assistant coach of the FUT Esports team, a Turkish team, of which he has been a part since June 2022 and where he can earn more than US $ 2,000 a month.

“What I did was try in a lot of teams and then with those references, in teams from Germany, England, amateurs, who were looking for someone to help them organize their game. Over time the opportunity came to try me in FUT, they liked it and I stayed with them. I have been working with them for 9 months ”, she expressed in contact with Nación Media.

Thus he becomes the first Paraguayan in the squads of an international team to participate for the second time in an international tournament of the Valorant game. This game is within a franchise system and has three main leagues in America, Europe and Asia. In each league there are 10 teams and one of them is FUT. They all form the first division of Esports that would be the highest category.

Iván managed to transcend internationally after looking for teams to train and practice as a coach, that is how he found in FUT the opportunity to show himself and enter a high-level competitive environment for the world of video games.

FUT competed in the second European division, with a regional format, and thus they became the winners of the Turkish league with the Valorant game. “We crowned ourselves as the best team in Europe in the second division. Now we reach the first division of Europe ”, he maintained.

Valorant, one of the best-known shooter games in the world and where the International League teams have sponsors, sponsors and fans, becoming a sport to which Paraguay is still not giving its place.

The 22-year-old managed to transcend internationally after looking for teams to train and work as a coach; This is how he found in FUT the opportunity to enter the most competitive universe of video games.

“Paraguay has never been a country where there is competition at a serious level, they are always tournaments with friends for fun, there was never a feeling of competitiveness or improvement so that there are professional teams and professional people working,” said Iván. He even mentioned that in order to make a living from this and be able to dedicate himself to what he knows how to do, he had to go to Turkey to enter the world that he covets.

In the same way, he bets on this sport and seeks to improve to become the head coach of one of the best teams in the world, everything he has achieved up to now seems incredible to him. “The truth is surreal, it is like something that I saw far away in a matter of months. Two weeks ago I participated in the first tournament worldwide and now we are starting the European league that lasts two to three months and will take place in person in Germany”, he stated.

It will be a matter of time before the competitive spirit awakens in Paraguay to professionalize this sport. Five years from now it could be a country with good regional representation. Gaming fans and followers only bet on this sport and hope that all the negative stereotypes will be left behind to position themselves as just another sport.