The 'football team of the future' that signed a player in bitcoin

DUX Internacional de Madrid: The Spanish football club owned by an esports team

They are owned by an esports company, with a YouTuber in goal, they stream matches on Twitch and signed a player using cryptocurrency. Are DUX Internacional de Madrid the football team of the future?

Currently in the third tier of Spanish football, the 'Infinite Club' count Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and Real Betis striker Borja Iglesias among their shareholders and have lofty ambitions on the pitch.

BBC Sport spoke to those running the club, including Iglesias, to find out how it all came about.

How did it start?
DUX Gaming was formed in 2018. It has successful esports teams in Fifa and NBA 2K, and its ranks include a former eLaLiga Fifa champion, Jaime 'Gravesen' Alvarez, and the world's first female professional esports player, Laura Moreno.

Courtois and Iglesias became shareholders in 2020, months before the company bought Segunda B side Internacional de Madrid. One of the other shareholders is DjMaRiiO - a Fifa YouTuber with more than six million subscribers.

English businessman Stephen Newman remained in place as president of the football club, which amended its name to reflect the new ownership, and also started wearing the same kit as the esports teams.

Why did Courtois and Iglesias get involved?

DUX chief executive Mario Fernandez said Iglesias and Courtois - as partners of DUX Gaming - "act as advisers as well as content creators".

And Iglesias told BBC Sport he was thrilled to be involved.

"Video games are something I've been passionate about since I was a child," he said. "Having the chance to be an active participant in a project like this is something that especially excites me."

His day-to-day involvement, by his own admission, is limited but he is happy to help in "any way I can".

"I am here for whatever is needed, but they have highly qualified professionals and they are the ones who know best how to manage the project," he said.

"I think that being able to work together and learn from each other is something that will give us many advantages in the future."

A YouTuber in goal, live matches on Twitch, Bitcoin transfers

Inter's goalkeeper is Carles Santalo, a former esports professional best known in Spain for his Fifa YouTube channel. Broadcasting as Kolderiu, he has more than a million subscribers, with 465,000 followers on Twitch too.

Is that part of a wider strategy, or just a happy coincidence?

"Carles has been a member of DUX since its foundation and a few years ago, he stopped competing professionally in esports with the intention of focusing his career on professional football and content creation, where he is already one of the biggest Fifa YouTubers in Spain," Fernandez said.

Unsurprisingly, Fernandez said Inter had seen an increase in young fans since the DUX takeover.

"We are one of the few clubs that are broadcasting football matches live on Twitch," he said.

"In these broadcasts, we have professional commentators from the world of football, but also YouTubers and esports players appear as guests."

And Inter broke new ground in January, saying they had become the first football team to sign a player - David Barral - using Bitcoin. One of the club's sponsors is the cryptocurrency platform.

"Our aspirations are to continue growing," said Iglesias. "We know how difficult this project is and we face it calmly, but at the same time we are very excited about the opportunities that lie ahead."

Newman sounds more ambitious.

"We are two giant steps away from the La Liga, but it's a dream," he said.