Spanish football uses influencers to win back gamers on Amazon’s Twitch

The clash between Basque region clubs Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday evening is the first top-tier Spanish game to be shown live on Twitch, a platform that’s mostly used for watching people play video games. — Dreamstime/TNS

Spain’s main football league is handing match coverage to a popular influencer on Amazon.com Inc’s streaming app Twitch to attract younger audiences more interested in online gaming.

The clash between Basque region clubs Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday evening is the first top-tier Spanish game to be shown live on the platform that’s mostly used for watching people play video games. It will air for Spanish Twitch users on the channel of 26-year-old social media celebrity Ibai Llanos under a deal between LaLiga and broadcast rights owner Mediapro, as well as free to air on regular TV network GOL.