On Tuesday, The All India Football Federation (AIFF) announced that it will be conducting a national tournament from March 20 to April 4 to select the Indian team for its maiden appearance in the FIFAe Nations Series.
The FIFAe Nations Series will be an esports tournament that will see players from around the world. No Indian team has ever participated in the FIFAe Nations Series games. To alter that, AIFF is creating an eNational Squad that will include the nation’s leading FIFA players that will represent the nation in this year’s series.
Registrations for the tournament will commence starting March 1 until March 10.
For the selection process, the AIFF will host a national tournament ‘AIFF eFootball Challenge’ wherein the top 16 eligible PlayStation gamers of the country will contest to crown the winner. Then, as of February 25, the FIFAe Global Series Rankings (West Asia Region) shall be used to determine the qualification and seeding. The two finalists will represent India in the next stage of the global competition.
“Gaming has always been a great engagement tool for football fans across the world. Owing to the current pandemic situation the interest in eSports has increased manifold globally,” said AIFF general secretary Kushal Das.
“The opportunity to nominate eAthletes from India for the event is a unique opportunity to engage with the gaming community in the country and open a new avenue for fans to connect with the ‘Beautiful Game’. At the same time, it will help promote the concept of eSports as a career and provide global exposure to Indian eAthletes,” he added.
India will participate from the Middle East and Africa server region of the FIFAe Nations Series 2021. It will sport a multi-phase structure with online qualifier stages which will lead up to the FIFAe Nations Cup that will be the final event.
