Beer for brushing your teeth, canned ravioli as a team catering and the training facility in the allotment garden: In the presentation video of the gaming house, the e-sports organization Eintracht Spandau, newly founded by youtuber Max "HandofBlood" Knabe, wants to draw a very accurate picture of itself.

Likeable, spoiled, local - the role model: the iconic, somewhat worn-out football club. Football romance in e-sports, with close ties to your own region and the pub around the corner. And a break with the image that e-sports organizations usually draw, in which players with folded arms stand on stages in colorful spotlights and artificial fog.

"For us, the trigger was: in the German e-sports scene, there is currently still a lack of the points that you always have in classic sports and football - a regional identification and traditional clubs," says Christian Baltes in an interview with the German Press Agency. He is a product manager at the influencer agency Instinct3, which Eintracht Spandau co-founded.

Eintracht Spandau starts in LoL Prime League

From Tuesday, the club will compete for the first time in the top division of the Prime League, the League of Legends league for the German-speaking countries. Teams such as the long-established German e-sports clubs BIG, Mouz and SK Gaming, among others, are waiting for the Spandauer.

"Everyone can hype, street credibility can't. Authenticity cannot be bought," says the organization's website. "Because this is real.»

Founding of Instinct3 and Jung by Matt Nerd

But of course the club with the black and petrol striped jerseys is not really a traditional club. In addition to Instinct3, the new company is also being founded by Matt Nerd's Jung advertising agency. Both companies specialize in content that works on social media.

Baltes assumes that a "small seven-figure amount" will be invested in Eintracht Spandau by the end of the year. The money goes, for example, to content production, players and team house - not in an allotment garden, but an office in Spandau.

Passion for e-sports

So how do the authenticity cult image and the actual organization fit together? "What we meant by that: We bring the passion for e-sports and the understanding of how the community ticks," says Baltes. "And we think we have proven this with the way the community has reacted to our content so far.»

Many of those involved, such as team manager Kevin Westphal, have been on the scene for a long time. And Instinct3 has traditionally had close ties to Prime League promoter Freaks4U Gaming: HandofBlood used to sign with Freaks 4U himself before he founded Instinct3.

"We believe that the self-ironic is very well received by the target group and most of them can decode it very well," says Baltes. "And we are looking forward to finally starting to show that we are completely serious about sports. We are just as professional as the other teams in the league. We don't take ourselves too seriously on social media.»

Handofblood at the center of the content

At the center of the performance is the Youtube star HandofBlood. "We believe that with Max as a driving force, we can also focus on other things when it comes to playing," says Baltes. Elsewhere, for example, before signing a player, they also look at his personal reach on social media - as this is important for sponsors. "We can then also rely on younger, hungry players," says Baltes.

Eintracht Spandau also already has one arch-rival: the capital city club BIG, which was able to win the Prime League playoffs in the spring and summer seasons in 2021. The rivalry therefore initially seems a bit like a dachshund jumping out of a hedge and biting someone in the calf.

Spandau vs Berlin in the Prime League

This rivalry was previously discussed with BIG. "When we were looking for the first conversations with BIG behind the scenes, it was a blast when they found out what we were planning here. And they also know how good the rivalry we are currently building can be for them,"says Baltes, hoping for a derby atmosphere like Schalke's against Dortmund.

The stories about e-sports competitions often live from rivalries. For example, in the European LoL league LEC, the matches between G2 Esports and Fnatic are among the classic crowd pullers.

For BIG and Eintracht, the origin alone is reason enough for the rivalry. "There are definitely differences between Berlin and Spandau, which then have to be clarified in the Summoner's gap," says team manager Westphal with a big laugh.

So the hustle and bustle around Eintracht Spandau could also benefit the other teams in the Prime League. The regional leagues in France and Spain have far surpassed the Canadian League in viewership numbers. Among other things, because famous influencers have set up their own teams there and thus tied their communities to e-sports. The coming weeks will probably show whether this will also work in the Prime League.

Opening match Eintracht Spandau vs Gamerlegion

The league gives the Spandauers a certain importance with the opening game on Tuesday against Gamerlegion. When asked about the chances for an opening victory, Westphal gives a pause that is pregnant with meaning - and grins. "So yes. We'll watch the match. But I think we can decide for ourselves," he says.

"They will be clapped away, he wanted to say," Baltes adds with a smile.

In fact, Eintracht Spandau does not set its sporting goals too high at first. "We want to arrive in the first year in the Prime League and place ourselves in the upper midfield," says Westphal.

First of all, it is important to build infrastructure. "In the next few years, we always want to fight for the titles and also be part of the EU Masters.»