French President Emmanuel Macron has once again shown his support for the country’s esports stars, congratulating Team Vitality on their IEM Melbourne win. On April 27, shortly after the tournament in Melbourne which saw Vitality beat Falcons 3-2, Macron posted about the news to his social media accounts.

“With its Grand Slam, Vitality has elevated France to the top of esports and made our colors shine,” he said. “Congratulations to the entire team!”

The victory wasn’t an easy one for Vitality by any means. They traded maps with Falcons in the grand final, before a 22-20 overtime victory on Nuke made them champions, with Frenchman ZyWoo clinical throughout to help grant his team the win.

This isn’t the first time Macron has spoken out about esports. In September 2022, Macron himself announced the BLAST Paris Major. Later, he spoke about the opportunity of the 2024 Olympics in Paris, telling The Big Whale: “Finally, I’m not forgetting esport, another area of French excellence, with teams like Team Vitality and Karmine Corp. We have a historic opportunity here: the 2024 Olympics.

“It’s up to us to take advantage of this to make the link between the Olympics of the two worlds by hosting the world’s biggest sporting events that year: a CS:GO major, the League of Legends Worlds and The International of Dota 2.”

France has seen a lot of success when it comes to esports. The country has a strong history in competitive gaming, with some of the strongest players in multiple titles including the likes of Sébastien “Ceb” Debs in Dota 2 and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut in Counter-Strike 2, and prominent teams in the global scene like Team Vitality and Karmine Corp.

With exceptions like the Danish government towards Astralis during the organisation’s dominance in CS years ago, esports isn’t something that is typically discussed or celebrated by world leaders. Macron and French politicians walked a different path, though, and have frequently brought esports to the forefront.

Vitality’s win wasn’t the only French victory on Sunday, April 27, as Call of Duty star Paco “HyDra” Rusiewiez took home the trophy at CDL Major 3, as his LA Thieves team dominated Vancouver Surge 4-0 in the grand final.