EVO, the worldās largest fighting game tournament, held its first-ever European edition this year in Nice, France. With 5,000 participants representing 93 nationalities, the event gathered players from across the globe for three days of intense competition across seven main titles at the Palais des Expositions.
Sheep Esports spoke with
Joƫl Digbeu, head of
BMS Esports, about the eventās preparation, the clubās economic reality, and its special ties to the
League of Legends scene.
You celebrated your second EVO title on social media this year with Jo'siah "Hikari" Millerās victory in Dragon Ball FighterZ. For this edition, BMS brought in new faces. How did this recruitment process come together?
JoĆ«l Digbeu: āAt the start of the project, with EVO Nice being announced in 2024,
our goal was to field WAWA (
Marwan Berthe) ā especially since heās from the region. But we knew he was starting to get approached by major teams. Financially, we couldnāt keep up and ended up losing him, as well as Raflow (
Arda Imrek). At that point, we set the tournament aside ā I even considered not entering at all, worried we wouldnāt be able to keep pace financially. Expectations were high: we were the only French team to have won since 2022, but we couldnāt field a roster that wasnāt competitive.
Who built your lineup for the event after losing your historic players?
JoĆ«l Digbeu: Within our team, thereās EndY, who scouted and reached out to players. Thanks to him, we managed to sign Verix (
Ismaila Gueye) and Hikari. We struck an agreement during the summer but waited until the last moment to announce them, so no one could poach them. With Neia, it was different. Someone told me about her, so we went to a Weekly at Espot in Paris to see for ourselves. We saw her beating top players, and even when she lost, the matches were close. So
we reached out to Kayane (
Marie-Laure Norindr) to put us in touch with her family since sheās a minor. We financed her first major at UFA, without the BMS tag, to watch her development ā she finished 13th. From then on, we knew we had to keep her.
EVO brings in some of the biggest names in esports (T1, Team Liquid, NiPā¦). Is it a point of pride to win against clubs like these?
JoĆ«l Digbeu: Yes, absolutely. And to be honest, I fear the day we might lose that feeling. Weāre a bit like Asterix against the Romans [Laughs]. I like this outsider status because it means less pressure. And we really are the peopleās team. Weāve had a few clashes with other clubs on this topic, but weāre the ones sleeping with mice in the office.
You place strong emphasis on merchandising. Did this tournament boost your jersey sales?
JoĆ«l Digbeu: Completely. The further we advanced in the tournament, the more notifications of sales I received on my phone. If tomorrow we stop selling jerseys, thatās the end. Weāre heavily dependent on merchandising. We donāt yet have other assets we can rely on to generate revenue apart from our fanbase.
How many BMS jerseys do you sell each year?
JoĆ«l Digbeu: Over 1,000 a year, which for us is huge. Right now, weāve had a real boost ā almost 600 in a single week. Iāve been a jersey fanatic since I was a kid ā Iāve always had a passion for textiles, for jerseys, for manufacturing. Iām truly passionate about clothing.
For 2026, you announced plans to have a player for every EVO title. Is that plan already in motion?
JoĆ«l Digbeu: Not yet. Weād like to, but financially we canāt project that far ahead. The first EVO we won in Las Vegas, we marketed it poorly. What I regret is this sort of anti-business mindset we had, refusing invitations and keeping too much distance from the industry out of distrust. This year, Iāve done six or seven interviews since our victory. I really understood that when you win, you have to open up and share your story.
The League of Legends Worlds are currently underway, a game you often bring up. Where does BMS stand with League?
JoĆ«l Digbeu: I could write a five-chapter book on that gameā¦ The ecosystem is fragile, from the LEC down to the smaller leagues. We submitted an application for Division 2 back in the day ā Trayton (
Jean Medzadourian) even helped us prepare the file ā but we werenāt selected,
with the spot going to Joblife instead. After that, I reconsidered the whole thing. Listening to other CEOs talk about the expenses they were committing to, it sounded insane given their results. Spending ā¬200,000 a year just to play for relegation, when with that money I could buy out Arslan Ashās contract (
Tekken player for Twisted Minds, seven-time EVO champion), win tournaments, and rack up millions of YouTube views ā the choice was obvious.
Have you received concrete proposals to enter League of Legends?
Joƫl Digbeu: We were approached by several Division 2 clubs like
IziDream and Mirage to form joint ventures, but our visions of what a club should be were too different. And financially, it didnāt add up on many levels. For me,
League of Legends in France is essentially Karmine Corpās territory ā 80% of the audience is already theirs. Whatās left isnāt enough to generate sustainable sponsorship.
On stream, you once described BMS as being in the purgatory of esports. What did you mean by that?
JoĆ«l Digbeu: When I talk about purgatory, it applies to us as well. Today, we have good scouting and some sponsors, but if tomorrow we fail to generate significant revenue and other teams start scouting talent the same way we do, we wonāt make it. We were in talks with Blaz (Derek), but just days before signing, he joined another team for financial reasons. Thatās going to happen more often. Weāre aware of it. Weāre not safe from having to shut down.
Where does the financial future of BMS lie? What are the medium-term plans?
JoĆ«l Digbeu: In the medium term, the plan is to develop lifestyle content and creative projects ā in short, to become, proportionally, something akin to 100 Thieves or FaZe Clan in terms of brand orientation. Esports alone wonāt be enough. Right now, thereās a funny trend on X, with people saying āBMS is known for everything except esports.ā On the surface, itās a joke ā but in reality, people are seeing our name and learning who we are beyond just esports.ā
