TOKYO PLAYS HOST TO THEATRICAL eFootball CHAMPIONSHIP OPEN WORLD FINALS

KONAMI crowns new set of champions at eFootball Championship Open World Finals at the esports Ginza studio

26th July 2023 – Windsor – After five months and several rounds of qualifiers, the top eFootball™ players from around the world convened in Tokyo, Japan for the eFootball™ Championship Open World Finals.

Across the weekend of 22nd-23rd July, the best individual mobile and console players battled it out to see which lone champion would emerge.

After a series of knock-out rounds, El_Mysterio and UDI claimed the mobile and console titles respectively, taking home $10,000 each in prize money for their efforts.

The Results in full

After five different rounds of qualification, 8 mobile and 16 console contestants came together to play for their respective crowns in the newly adapted offline format held in the esports Ginza studio in Tokyo.

In the console category, the 16 players were divided into four groups of four, and only the top player in each table would go through to the Semi-Finals. These included ZEUS_ELGACOR, Zilo, FRANKINO, and eventual champion UDI. In the final itself, Japanese player UDI edged out Zilo 3-2 in an incredible game.

In the mobile category, there were just two groups of four, but with the top two from each qualifying for the Semi-Finals. El_Mysterio actually finished second in his group, with LaCasAA taking top spot. The two met again in the Final where the Brazilian managed to scrape the win and the title via a nail-biting penalty shootout.

For a full breakdown of the results: https://efootballpro.konami.net/open/worldfinals/results2/

From team triumphs to individual accolades

10 players from the eFootball™ Championship Pro competed for the individual titles in the PlayStation® (console) category including MeroMen of FC Internazionale and FRANKINO of AC Milan. MeroMen’s journey ended in the Group Stages whilst Frankino topped his group but lost to Zilo in the Semi-Finals. Their inclusion helps to contextualise the levels set by those individuals who were strong enough to reach the World Finals.

These standards caught the imagination of viewers worldwide, as the eFootball™ Championship Open World Finals was streamed live from the studio on the eFootball™ YouTube channel, gaining nearly 3 million views so far!

El_Mysterio, winner of the Mobile category, commented on the World Finals saying: ‘I feel super emotional, I can’t believe it. I was thinking about so many different things in the moment. In the penalty shootout, I had to think about where to shoot, where to save, luckily it worked well for me, and I am now the champion!’

UDI, winner of the Console category, talked about his final: ‘Zilo was strong! It was really a tough game, and it was hard when I tied the game in the 2nd half. Getting the 3rd goal was huge, it was a lucky turn of events.
My friends came to the venue to cheer me on enthusiastically.
I think the level in Japan is the highest, so I hope that eFootball™ will become more popular in Japan!’

About eFootball™ Championship Open

eFootball™ Championship Open in KONAMI’s universal esports event on the eFootball™ title. Starting with an in-game qualification event in February, users from all around the world and of all standards can participate and move up their local rankings via the four main qualification rounds.
If they are amongst the top in their region and category, they then face the online qualifiers. From this point, you gain the top 8 players from the mobile category and the top 16 from the console.
These players move on to the eFootball™ Championship Open World Finals.