MANCHESTER, England (AP) — The phenomenon of scoring a goal?check.
Investor in Chess? Check.
Manchester City’s Norwegian striker Erling Haaland is hoping to bring a new audience to the board game by becoming a strategic investor in the World Chess Championship tour, due to start next year.
Haaland is helping to found a company called Chess Mates, which will become the “significant owner” of Norwegian Chess and the Total Chess World Championship Tour.
“Chess is a great game,” he said in a statement from Total Chess. “It sharpens your mind and there are obvious similarities to soccer. You have to think quickly, trust your instincts and think several moves ahead.”
Mr. Haaland has begun to expand his business interests. his own YouTube channel Last year, the number of subscribers exceeded 1.4 million.
Haaland, 25, has partnered with Norwegian businessman Morten Borge for an undisclosed investment in chess and said he wanted to make chess “an even bigger sport for audiences around the world”.
The new tour will take place in four new cities and will combine different disciplines of chess (Fast Classic, Rapid and Blitz) to crown a combined world champion with a minimum annual prize pool of $2.7 million.
Norwegian Chess chief executive Kjell Madland said Haaland had “already contributed with some great ideas”.
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