NHL

KFC to sponsor Sampi in Washington D.C.

Eight qualified players will travel to Washington D.C. for the Capitals Faceoff tournament in NHL 19. One of them is Erik “EKI” Tammenpää from the Czech Team SAMPI, who has signed an exclusive partnership with the restaurant chain KFC.

The international tournament The Capitals Faceoff will take place on February 22 in the Capital One Arena hockey hall in Washington D.C. Eight of its participants came from four qualifying rounds and will compete in 1 vs 1 – double elimination system. A prizepool of $10.000 will be divided between the players in Washington D.C. and TOP3 will have an opportunity to represent Washington Capitals on March 19, 2019 at the NHL Threes Showcase match against Tampa Bay Lightning. The showmatch is part of an official NHL activation Chel Classic.

Colors of Team Sampi will be represented by Finnish player Erik ‘’EKI’’ Tammenpää, who is currently ranked as number one in the world.

Erik, as a former active hockey player, has been playing NHL on PlayStation for over ten years and competitively since early 2017. Last year, he was able to win the NHL World Gaming Championship in Las Vegas, from which he took home $50,000. In January 2019, he was ranked as the best NHL 19 player according to the official NHL 19 Power Rankings.

For the tournament in Washington, SAMPI exclusively merged with the KFC restaurant chain, which has supported the eSports activities since 2017 through cooperation with Prima COOL TV.

“We perceive the worldwide trend of eSports and the exponential increase in the popularity of this sector in the Czech Republic, where a strong community is being created and our teams are beginning to have successes on the international scene as well. That is why we are pleased to help SAMPI with the promotion and publicity of the eSports in the Czech Republic during the prestigious tournament in the USA. This is our first collaboration that has an international overlap in eSports branch,” says about the partnership Libor Hubík, KFC Brand President for the Czech Republic and Austria.

Team SAMPI was founded in September 2018 by a Czech professional football representative Jakub Jankto, who currently plays in Italy for UC Sampdoria Genoa. The team is dedicated to NHL, FIFA and TrackMania, and has its headquarters in Prague, Czech Republic. The organization employs two world champions from 2018. Erik “Eki” Tammenpää dominated the game NHL 18, Martin “Kappa” Krompolc followed with TrackMania.