The Portuguese Football Association (FPF) has launched a FIFA eSports league and full eSports division in partnership with German financial services company Allianz.
The free event, called the “Allianz Challenge” has over $22,000 worth of prizes and has now opened for gamers to apply for entry through an eSports website launched in conjunction with this league by the FPF. The competition is divided across PS4, Xbox One and PC and will initially be based online, until it is whittled down to the 16 best players across these three gaming platforms.
The final of the competition, with these 64 players, will be held at the FPF’s headquarters, called “The City of Football” in the Portuguese city of Oeiras in July. The winner will earn a prize money of over $11,000 and a trip to Denmark to face two-time world champion Agge Rosenmeier, a Red Bull athlete, at FIFA.
This new FPF eSports division and event is also being sponsored by HP, Red Bull and Portuguese company Moche.
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Fernando Gomes, president of FPF since 2011, said in a statement the Portuguese Football Federation wanted to follow the evolution of esports and be at the forefront of innovation and development.
A year ago Portuguese soccer club Sporting Lisbon launched its own eSports division while Portuguese Primeira Liga rivals Braga, Benfica and Porto have also been rumoured to be jumping into eSports this year too.