Meeting with the founders of the team Amazingan ambitious new esports structure which announced its recent partnership with Le Coq Sportif and unveiled their new jersey.
Amazing is an esports structure still amateur founded in 2020 by Marvin Goupy and Morgan Thibaut and at the head of two rosters on League of Legends and Valorant.
An ambitious team whose vocation is to become more than just a sports club with an image, values, a lifestyle and above all a common passion, Amazing has just announced its partnership with the French brand Le Coq Sportif with which they have created the new team jersey.
The opportunity for Dexerto to meet the two founders of Amazing in the company of Jérémy, manager of the Le Coq Sportif store in the first arrondissement of Paris where an evening event was organized.
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Amazing x @the Coq Sportif are proud to present their first jersey!#WeAreAmazing pic.twitter.com/UJdUnIVWbJ
— Amazing (@WeAreAmazing) January 29, 2022
Dexerto: What led you to create Amazing?
Martin: I have always been passionate about video games since my childhood, I discovered esports at the time of Call of Duty with Millenium, Gotaga, etc. Very quickly, I discovered these competitions, it was the beginnings of esports with LANs, cash prizes of €200… After finishing my license a year and a half ago, I needed to create, to maintain an activity that fascinates me. I launched Amazing at that time. At first, I started with 3-4 people on League of Legends, we weren’t talking about structure yet, we were still at the associative stage. But it was my little baby, my little project. Then fate did it right because shortly after Morgan contacted me again. Esports kind of brought us together because we’ve known each other since middle school.
The two co-founders Morgan (left), Marvin (right) and Jérémy (center).
How do you create an esports team in an already competitive field?
Martin: Our goal is not only to create a team but also to maintain and develop it. At our amateur level, it’s very unstable in this ecosystem. We work a lot on this stability, to supervise the players, to make them understand that it is now your job. You have schedules to respect, especially sleep, you have a tournament on Sunday… It’s all this aspect on which we are working. We are very enterprising, we learn from everywhere. It’s this really passionate side that brings us to where we are today. Working with Le Coq Sportif is a real honor and proves that we don’t do things by halves, that we know what we’re talking about.
We are very enterprising, we learn from everywhere. It’s this really passionate side that brings us to where we are today.
What can this partnership with Le Coq Sportif bring to Amazing?
Morgan: Le coq sportif is a historic brand, present on the market for 140 years. This partnership is truly exceptional. There is a tricolor side and we are a French team, these are common values. There is also the love side of the jersey which is also very important and which is becoming more and more so in esports. In recent years, it has really tended towards this side of attachment, supporting a club, a jersey, a team and an identity.
The new Amazing shirt produced by Le Coq Sportif.
What about Le Coq Sportif? What is the benefit for the brand of partnering with Amazing, a young structure still amateur?
Jeremy: We are still at a stage of experience, of discovery and we will go there gradually. The brand has had major activities in traditional sport for 140 years, so we are not going to suddenly switch to esports. Gradually, other teams will join our ranks, in addition to GameWard, Amazing, Atletec, etc… It’s a bet on the future with Amazing. We accompany them, we help them to become more professional and to have quality products. When you go looking for partners, it’s important to see the quality of your products, otherwise it risks giving off a bad image. Our long-term vision is to see the visibility benefits that Amazing can provide us in the future.
We trust the ecosystem that Riot has put in place. They are really the best to start and get started in this environment with a healthy ecosystem.
In competition, you are present on two games: League of Legends and Valorant, why this choice?
Martin: For League of Legends it’s quite obvious, it’s the most developed esports scene, but also from an amateur point of view it’s quite accessible to stand out. Internally, we see that the amateur community is starting to become more and more professional, with salaries and sponsors.
Morgan: We trust the ecosystem that Riot has put in place. They are really the best to start and get started in this environment with a healthy ecosystem. Hence Valorant behind, the scene being young, we really have a card to play. We can evolve quickly and it’s very interesting for us, we started at the end of March in mid-April 2021 when Webedia announced the launch of the French circuit.
Marvin and Morgan with the Valorant team from Amazing.
Are you aiming for other games in the future, do you have any publisher preferences?
Martin: We obviously have other ideas like Rocket League, which I appreciate and which is a scene that is also well developed. But for the moment, we prefer to focus on these two games. It already takes a lot of time and we would also like to professionalize our players with remuneration, to have the first premises to carry out training in spaces and conditions much better than today.
It is very important to have a competent coaching staff so that the players want to come because they know that they will progress and will be supervised.
How do you structure your team through the players, the staff…?
Morgan: We have what is called a coaching staff which brings together many people with a manager, players, a coach, a head coach, an assistant coach, an analyst and also a performance coach. It is very important to have a competent coaching staff so that the players want to come because they know that they will progress and will be supervised. If nothing is organized and if there is no training, they know that they will stagnate and they will never be able to become professionals. This is the most important step in recruiting players.
The organization of the two teams League of Legends and Valorant of Amazing.What could differentiate Amazing from other esports structures?
Martin: Today, there are a lot of sports clubs. Because creating an association is very simple and it doesn’t cost any money, it’s a signed piece of paper. Precisely, we are working on the after and the counterpart of our vision of things, for example with our brand image. About our social networks we are quite attentive to that, we try to create a story-telling with our fans. Everything we see today with the effect KCorp and the hype around this young structure. We see what works and what doesn’t. Why today would we be more a fan of a Vitality, a Fnatic, more than an LDLC OL or others for example when they are all pros and almost at the same level? Yet there is a real difference and we know why. This goes through the image of the brand, what the founders want to invest in the club, how we put the players forward, how we work with them and obviously with the performances. It’s something that plays a huge role, it’s even essential! We understand all that, and we know where we want to go.