The advisory board of the esports player foundation is made up of eight experienced executives and experts from the worlds of business, esports, politics, and sport. In addition to overseeing the management, one of its main responsibilities is monitoring the allocation of financial resources, which may only be used in the best interests of the supported players. The advisory board also provides strategic guidance and supports the development of networks and valuable contacts.
The Chairman of the Advisory Board is Hans Christian Lueneborg (Director, Operations & Production Services EMEA), and the Deputy Chairman is Evangelos Papathanassiou (Co-Founder esports player foundation & Digital Strategy Consultant for Media and Sports).
Karsten Jahn has been with Ubisoft since 2017 and, during this time, has been responsible for sales, marketing and e-commerce for the GSA region (Germany, Switzerland and Austria), amongst other things. Since December 2025, he has been leading Ubisoft GmbH as General Manager and has operational responsibility for marketing in Central Europe (GSA, Benelux and Eastern Europe), with a particular focus on esports.
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Dr. Matteo Riatti holds a PhD in media studies (Game Studies) and has been conducting academic research on esports, among other topics, since 2018. As head of department at the DLR Project Management Agency, he has advised the German federal government since 2019 on establishing the “Federal Games Funding” program.
In March 2026, he took over as head of division S13 “Games” at the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR). Since then, together with his division, he has been responsible for federal games funding, the German Computer Game Awards, and the topic of esports.
Max Hartung is the spokesperson of the Executive Board of the German Sports Aid Foundation and is responsible for the areas of Communications, Public Affairs, and the Board of Trustees. The former sabre fencer was a World and European Champion as well as a three-time Olympian. As the founder of Athletes Germany, he significantly strengthened the advocacy work for elite athletes. For his commitment, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit.
Antje Hundhausen is Vice President Brand Experience at Deutsche Telekom and can look back on over 30 years of professional experience in leading positions in the IT, telecommunications and tourism industries. She holds a degree in business administration, musicology and art history.
In her role, she designs interactive, immersive brand experiences and uses innovative educational programmes to ensure that all generations can participate in digitalisation with Deutsche Telekom’s product portfolio and use it responsibly.
She leads the transformation and implementation of sustainable retail design concepts on a European level and creates innovative hybrid working environments. Her projects include corporate trade fairs, digital labs such as the Fashion Fusion Programme and the Art Science Residency Programme.
She has built up the ‘Art Collection Telekom’ art collection over the last 15 years with a unique focus on contemporary art from Eastern, Central and South Eastern Europe. She is also Chairwoman of the Art Curatorium. Together with the Kunstmuseum Bonn and an internationally renowned jury, she established the Human AI Art Award.
As co-founder of the equal esports initiative, she is actively involved in promoting women in top-level esports together with partners epf and SK Gaming.
Michael Haenisch is an entrepreneur and the founder of the heartbase group, as well as the gaming and esports agency onethreefive gaming. Prior to this, he founded and ran the internationally active gaming and esports agency Freaks 4U Gaming for many years.
Hans is chairman of the advisory board of the esports player foundation. He began his esports journey in the late 90s with Quake and StarCraft. What started as a hobby became his profession. Over the last 20 years, Hans has worked across all areas of esports. He served as Head of Esports at FC Schalke 04 and led the EU business unit for Splyce (now Mad Lions). Since 2018, Hans has held leadership roles at Riot Games: He was responsible for creating the Prime League, managing Russian and Turkish esports operations, and currently leads the business strategy for all esports in EMEA.
Ralf Reichert has shaped the development of global Esports like hardly anyone else. He has been active in gaming and Esports for over 20 years, making him a true pioneer. In 1997 he founded SK Gaming and in 2000 the ESL (Electronic Sports League). Today he is Chairman of ESL FACEIT Group.
Felix has been managing director of game since February 1, 2018. He previously held the same position at BIU, where he helped implement the merger with GAME. From 2009 to 2016, Felix was managing director of the Entertainment Software Self-Regulation Body (USK).
Evangelos Papathanassiou has been a freelance digital strategy consultant for media and sport for 13 years. His clients include FIFA, UEFA, DFL, Bayern Munich and ESL in the sports sector and RTL, ProSieben, Sport1 and others in the media sector. He has been active in the digital economy for over 20 years and was, among other things, Head of Innovation Strategy at Deutsche Telekom. Together with Jörg Adami, he founded the esports player foundation and now serves as Deputy Chairman of its Advisory Board.