Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, said today he wants some of esports’ biggest events to be a part of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
In an interview with French technology outlet The Big Whale, Macron said he wanted to make “France THE country of video games,” including as a hub for both game development and esports.
“Finally, I don’t forget esports, another area of French excellence, with teams like Team Vitality or Karmine Corp,” Macron said. “We have, in this regard, a historic opportunity: that of the 2024 Olympic Games. It is up to us to take advantage of it to make the link between the Olympiads of the two worlds by hosting the biggest sporting events in the world that year: a [CS:GO Major], the Worlds of League of Legends, and The International of Dota 2. If the French trust me, we will work on it as soon as I am elected. This is also the influence of France.”
Paris served as the host city of the League Worlds group stage in 2015 before hosting the Worlds finals at Accor Arena in 2019 when FunPlus Phoenix defeated European juggernaut G2 Esports to win the tournament. The French capital has not hosted either a CS:GO Major or The International, although the city’s most popular soccer club, Paris Saint-Germain F.C, is in a partnership with Chinese esports organization LGD Gaming that has yielded two second-place finishes for PSG.LGD at The International in 2018 and 2021.
Macron is the incumbent in the ongoing 2022 French presidential election, which could make some believe that Macron’s supposed desire to bring esports and its biggest events to the 2024 Olympics is nothing more than potentially-impossible campaign promises. Macron, who was elected in May 2017, is running against Marine Le Pen in the second round of the presidential election.
