úterý 16.11.2021

The biggest Czech competition in EA SPORTS™ FIFA 22 is starting! All league clubs will again enter the third edition of e:LEAGUE

The biggest Czech competition in EA SPORTS™ FIFA 22 is starting! All league clubs will again enter the third edition of e:LEAGUE

úterý 16.11.2021
The League Football Association is continuing its activities in the field of esports and will organise another edition of the biggest competitive tournament in EA SPORTS FIFA for all sixteen premier league clubs, this year exclusively on PlayStation 5. All of the biggest stars of the Czech FIFA scene will be in the fight for prize money worth a total of 150,000 crowns, while also competing for a place in the EA SPORTS FIFA 22 Global Series Playoffs, which will determine the finalist for the FIFAe World Cup at the end of the season. The third edition of e:LEAGUE will be played in a new long-term format that will also provide more entertainment for esports fans.

The battle for the e:LEAGUE champion will begin with a qualification phase, where several tournaments will be held to find future representatives of clubs that do not have their own roster. These are Hradec Králové, Mladá Boleslav and České Budějovice. The remaining thirteen clubs have nominated a pair or even a trio of experienced FIFA players. "We have been following the development of the Czech FIFA scene from afar and it appears that its quality is growing, as well as the interest of Czech clubs of different levels to get involved in the virtual world of esports. That's why this year we decided to partially close the e:LEAGUE to the really best players and the public will eventually be able to participate in three free tournaments. We are pleased to see that some clubs have also already found their way to smaller sponsors and the management there can see that our e:LEAGUE has opened up new opportunities for business partners," said Daniel Hajný, Sales and Marketing Director of the League Football Association.

The significantly shorter qualification phase will be followed by the e:LEAGUE regular season, which will consist of fifteen league rounds in which the clubs will play one match against each other on predetermined dates. The long term table will then be used to determine the order of seeding for the final play-offs. "We believe that each league round will offer the fans quality and balanced matches. All sixteen clubs will advance to the final play-off, but the final standings after the regular season will play a significant role in the play-offs, so the motivation of all participants throughout the regular season is assured," said Štěpán Hanuš, Director of Communications and PR of the League Football Association, about the e:LEAGUE game system. It will offer fans streaming broadcasts of selected league rounds and, of course, the complete play-off programme. The championship title will be decided in the e:LEAGUE final on Sunday 27 March 2022.

This year, e:LEAGUE is also the only Czech tournament to be part of the multinational EA SPORTS FIFA 22 Global Series, where the best players from around the world will face off. "Thank EA SPORTS for trusting our e:LEAGUE to put it on the level of the biggest national competitions in the world. Czech representatives, as well as representatives of other European leagues, will be entitled to one ticket to the EA SPORTS FIFA 22 Global Series Playoffs, from which they can qualify for the FIFAe World Cup final. We see this as an extremely big attraction, especially for the elite players from the Czech FIFA scene," said Štěpán Hanuš. The e:LEAGUE representative in the prestigious international competition will emerge from an internal competition within the winning e:LEAGUE 2021/22 club.

The main partners of e:LEAGUE are PlayStation and Monster Energy, as in the previous edition. "e:LEAGUE has come a long way in its 2 years of existence and is clearly one of the most prestigious esports projects in the Czech Republic. We are therefore very happy that PlayStation as a partner continues to be a part of it and that the gaming platform for the upcoming edition of e:LEAGUE is the next generation PlayStation 5 gaming console. We look forward to the new game format and wish all players and spectators a lot of fun," said Petr Škaloud, PlayStation Marketing Manager for Eastern Europe. At the same time, the partner structure also includes gaming agency Grunex. "This year, in cooperation with LFA and EA SPORTS, we have significantly changed the concept of the entire e:LEAGUE compared to previous years in order to increase the attractiveness of the competition for spectators, partners and the teams themselves. At the same time, the winner of the e:LEAGUE will advance to the EA SPORTS FIFA 22 Global Series Playoffs, something no other local FIFA competition can offer, giving the e:LEAGUE a unique prestige among local teams and players." said Martin Liberský, director of Grunex, the agency that is implementing the e:LEAGUE project for the LFA.

"We are glad that the partners see the potential in e:LEAGUE and that it makes sense for them to reach an ever-growing target group within the esports industry. Moreover, in my opinion, we have made the game format more attractive, which I believe will be reflected in the quality of the competition," said Daniel Hajný.