The Philippine Football Federation will launch its first-ever online efootball competition — the PFF eTrophy.
The tournament — which participants will play using the game FIFA 21 on PlayStation 4 — will take place from April 15 to 16.
PFF will invite esports players from all over the country to compete for the opportunity to represent Sibol Pilipinas in the various efootball competitions globally.
“We thank FIFA for including efootball in its platform which will allow us not only to host esports competitions but also to send our players to international competitions,” said PFF president Nonong Araneta.
“As we host our first ever PFF eTrophy, we hope that it will encourage football fans and stakeholders to enjoy football not just on the physical pitch, but also on the digital pitch.”
Over the past few years, there has been a great interest in esports, particularly in efootball. With various FIFA Member Associations and other efootball stakeholders already venturing in online competitions, PFF saw this year as an opportune time to launch the PFF eTrophy as its very first efootball competition here in the country.
The competition will feature a group stage and a knockout stage. Eight players will be drawn into two groups of four where they will play each other once in a single round-robin format.
The top two players from each group will face off in the crossover knockout stage where the matches will be played over two-legs. The winners from the semi-final matches will battle for the championship. The champion and runner-up will go on to represent the country in the FIFA E-Nations Series 2021 later this month.
The federation hopes that this online competition may help further spur the growth of football and influence the public to take an interest in the sport through a different medium.
“We see efootball as one of the new and innovative ways to promote football to the general public, particularly to the youth,” said PFF general secretary Atty. Edwin Gastanes.
“We invite all aspiring efootball players to join and compete in the PFF eTrophy.”
