Photograph courtesy St. Louis CITY SC
The competitive spirit began bubbling inside Niklas Raseck while growing up in Germany. Raseck would watch his older cousins crowd around a television screen to play games from the FIFA video game series. Eventually, they’d let him play, too. The older kids taught him how to score goals, win possession, and ultimately play a beautiful, albeit pixelated, version of the sport. Those early days with his cousins formed his love for FIFA, and by the time he was a teenager, Raseck was ready to take on the best gamers in his country.
“I like to compete,” says Raseck, who is also known by his tags NRaseck7 and NR7. “I am really hungry. When I do something, I want to be really good at it.”
Without question, the 24-year-old has made the most of that hunger. Known internationally as one of the most consistently excellent FIFA players on the planet, Raseck faces a new challenge this year in the United States. He’s representing St. Louis CITY SC in the 2023 eMLS tournament, which is underway this week in New York. The eMLS competition is the virtual extension of Major League Soccer, with gamers representing 26 of the 29 clubs facing off in a pair of league series and vying for a shot at earning the eMLS Cup in March at SXSW in Austin.
Although he’s a rookie on the eMLS stage—and the first European gamer signed with an MLS club—Raseck is an accomplished FIFA player with a decade-long track record of high-level success. When he was 14, Raseck made it to the semifinals of the German Championship, and went on to become a regular presence in the final rounds of the Virtual Bundesliga during the ensuing years. He won the FIFA Ultimate Team 20 Champions Cup in 2019, and he has qualified three times for the FIFA eWorld Cup. The eMLS tournament, naturally, is the next frontier for the German.
“It’s a really big tournament,” Raseck says, “and I can’t wait to represent St. Louis.”
Esports, of course, is much more than fun and games. It’s big business. According to a recent report compiled by digital trends publication Insider Intelligence, esports competitions attracted more than 530 million viewers in 2022. This year, the industry could surpass $1 billion in revenue for the first time. For CITY and its MLS counterparts, staging a virtual competition only makes sense—particularly considering that FIFA gamers trend younger. Planting a flag in the digital space represents a prime opportunity to reach a coveted audience and further connect them with the league’s main product.
“MLS fans are way younger, way more diverse, and way more digitally native than, comparatively, those of other sports leagues,” says Dennis Moore, CITY’s chief revenue officer. “When you think about that, a big chunk of our fans are gamers. They play FIFA. It’s not only a platform to connect with those avid MLS fans and avid soccer fans, but it is also a pipeline for new engagements with our clubs. We are doing this to meet our fans where they already are.”
Moore says it was a “conscious decision” on the part of CITY executives to sign a player of Raseck’s caliber to represent the club in this year’s tournament. Already, the move has created some buzz in the esports world. In the eMLS’ pre-tournament power rankings, Raseck ranks fifth among his fellow competitors.
“We believe we have the right player,” Moore says.
Raseck has yet to visit St. Louis, but is eager to do so in the coming weeks. For now, his focus is winning in the digital world, and elevating CITY’s profile on the eMLS stage and beyond.
“I’m really excited for it,” he says.
NR7 Rapid Fire
On his style of play in FIFA: “I like to control the game and have more possession than my opponent. Then, I find the right time to attack. My defensive play style is to pressure the opponent to get the ball back really quickly.”
On the amount of time he practices: “I practice a couple of hours every day. But it can happen that I take a one-day break, or two-day break to get a fresh mind. It’s always important that you have a fresh mind. For me, it depends on if I have a tournament. Obviously, I practiced a lot more before the eMLS tournament. If I have a tournament coming up, I practice way more than I do if I don’t.”
On games he likes to play for fun: “I sometimes play Rocket League. I play a bit of Call of Duty. That’s my two games.”
On hobbies outside of video games: “I’m just really interested in sports in general. I watch a lot of American sports. I watch basketball and American football. I like to travel.”
