KONAMI ANNOUNCES NEW ITALIAN ESPORTS TOURNAMENT COMING TO eFootball™

KONAMI welcomes the debut of the ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’ tournament – a new fan-focused competition featuring seven of Italy’s best clubs

25^th November 2022 – Windsor – Konami Digital Entertainment B.V. today announced the launch of a brand new esports tournament – the ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’. This is a new tournament based in Italy which will see the integration of eFootball™ partner clubs, their youth players, professional esports players, and – most importantly – their fans.

What is the ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’?

The ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’ represents a new esports venture for KONAMI and the football simulation gaming arena. The tournament will see the integration of three different players forming a team to represent each of the competing clubs. These are: A selected Youth team player; A professional esports player currently part of their existing squad; A club fan who wins an online qualification tournament.

This unique team composition of elite and grassroots esports players alongside the youth selection sees a melding of club representatives unlike anything seen on the current football simulation esports landscape.

• Trailer: https://youtu.be/GWGyrW31kog

Seven eFootball™ partner clubs to be involved

KONAMI is delighted to announce that all seven of its eFootball™ partner clubs based in Italy will be taking part in the ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’. These will include AC Milan, AC Monza, AS Roma, Atalanta BC, FC Internazionale Milano, SS Lazio, and SSC Napoli.

How the competition will work

Prior to the seven clubs taking each other on for the ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’ title, there be the selection processes for their three representatives.

Firstly, each club will hold an internal esports tournament between their Youth team players to determine a representative. This will come alongside a seminar from the KONAMI eFootball Activations team providing an insight into the ever-evolving world of esports and video gaming.

Secondly, there will also be an internal tournament at each club between their respective esports players to determine who will represent them as part of the tripartite.

Thirdly, eFootball™ will run an online in-game tournament for all gamers within Italy called the ‘KONAMICI’ this will be an Italian-only event within eFootball™ 2023. Players can register to compete online with the tournament lasting two weeks in total.

Players do not have to have played eFootball™ prior to this and can participate with no experience of the game. Each club fan can register online and select the club which they hope to represent.

From here, they will play a minimum of 30 online matches against fellow club fans, collecting points as they progress before the online ranking determines the top representatives.

The top ranked fans from each club will then progress to a club specific fan knock out bracket, also played online. The winning fan representative for each club will thus complete the three-part team alongside the Youth team and Esports players who will go on to represent their respective club in the ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’.

Not only will each KONAMICI winner be able to represent their club in an internationally broadcast esports tournament but will receive a series of unique experiences and prizes from both KONAMI and their chosen club.

The KONAMICI will take place only on Playstation®4 and Playstation®5 devices and will be free-to-play.

Tournament Schedule

The ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’ is a new form of esports competition with many different elements coming together to bring it to life. The qualification and selection for club representative squads and then the consequential tournament will occur in stages between December 2022 and April 2023.

The KONAMICI qualification phase will commence in February, allowing all seven participating clubs to gain their fan representative with final knockouts concluding by the end of March 2023.

Once each of the clubs has confirmed its three-person team, there will be an offline Group Stage phase where the clubs will play each other to determine their positions in their respective groups. This will be broadcast from the ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’ studio. This stage will affect the draw for the knock-out phase at the Grand Finals weekend later in April.

Finally, with group positions secured, clubs will be drawn against each other for the Quarter Finals. From here, it will be a straight knock-out tournament with two Semi Finals, a Third-place play-off (between the two clubs who lose their respective Semi Finals), and a Grand Final.

The Grand Finals weekend will be an offline, live event hosted at Napoli COMICON on the weekend of the 28^th April – 1^stMay 2023.

The victorious club will take home a Grand Prize including a specialised eFootball™ multi-media and gaming centre to be installed at their youth training complex.

Throughout the tournament, there will also be a set of episodes of what is to be known as ‘eFootball™TV’ available on the official eFootball™ Youtube channel, recorded in the aforementioned ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’ studio.

These will include analysis and highlights from the ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’, interviews with the players, appearances from partner club players and legends, and an exclusive behind-the-scenes perspective giving fans an all-access view into how eFootball™ works and how the ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’ was brought to life.

About “eFootball™”

“eFootball™” was the rebranding of KONAMI’s popular gaming series “PES”. The change marked a great leap forward as the branding changed alongside the addition of a new football game engine, advancements in gameplay, and the remodelling of the title as ‘free-to-play’ across all compatible devices.

“eFootball™” is an ever-evolving platform with the aim of maximising enjoyment and accessibility for football fans around the world.

“eFootball”, “e-Football” and “eFootball logo” are registered trademarks or trademarks of Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. in Japan and other countries or regions.