EVER since FIFA’s very public divorce from EA Sports, the game developer has been flourishing while the football federation appeared to be floundering.
EA Sports has since gone on to develop EA Sports FC, and have released two entries in the series since dropping the FIFA name.
Not only this, but the EA Sports FC games have been just as successful as they were when they were under the FIFA name.
FIFA has been saying that it will start a new video game partnership ever since FIFA 23 was released as the last game in the FIFA series, but it has yet to happen.
Last March, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said that there would be a new game in the FIFA series “very soon” but that has also not happened.
He said: “The new FIFA game – the FIFA 25, 26, 27 and so on – will always be the best egame for any girl or boy. We will have news on this very soon.”
However, it seems like FIFA has finally landed on a gaming partnership, but we won’t be seeing FIFA 26 or the like, anytime soon.
Instead, FIFA has signed an esports partnership with long-time EA Sports rival Konami, developer of FIFa competitors Pro Evo Soccer and eFootball.
Konami won’t be developing the next generation of FIFA games, but instead work with the federation to create an esports world cup.
There will be two FIFAe World Cups taking place this year on both mobile and console versions of Konami’s eFootball.
Qualifying rounds for the competition begin today (October 10), so you can get your eFootball team ready and start competing.
There will be 18 countries eligible to take part in the World Cup namely Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, England, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea Republic, Malaysia, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Thailand, and Türkiye.
Players will first compete to take part on behalf of their country, and then take part in an eFootball World Cup later this year.
If this year’s tournaments are a success then the partnership is expected to continue, offering eFootball as an esport under the FIFA banner.
It might not be the FIFA video game news everyone was hoping for, but it is one step closer to more football gaming goodness.
If you want to read more about football video games, check out our EA Sports FC 25 review.
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