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Football for Friendship draws teams for this year’s Football for Friendship eWorld Championship
The 32 International Teams of Friendship for this year’s Football for Friendship eWorld Championship (eF4F), which is organised under the banner of Gazprom International Children’s Social Programme Football for Friendship, have now been drawn. Young Players from 211 countries will compete for the eF4F Championship title from 27th to 29th May.
The Open Draw was held in an online ceremony on 25th April, the International Day of Football and Friendship. The Young Ambassadors for the project, Ananya Kamboj from India, Yusuf Moazzam from Pakistan, Sheqayli Ascencion from Aruba and Alinur Gabidenuiy from Kazakhstan, drew the 32 International Teams of Friendship. The teams were organised into a total of eight groups, with each group consisting of four teams. All teams are named after endangered species to draw attention to the problem of animal extinction. Watch the Open Draw on the programme’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WtKefJnfas.
The eF4F is held on the multiplayer simulator Football for Friendship World (F4F World), which was specially developed for F4F, but available for free on MS Windows, Apple macOS, Android, iOS. Each team consists of six players, and a match runs for two halves of 3.5 minutes each. Football academies all over the world can nominate boys and girls aged 12 to 14 as players up to 1st May.
The preliminary rounds of the eF4F 2021 tournament will take place on 27th and 28th May. The final will be played on 29th May. The national F4F Ambassadors will meet for the National Ambassadors Forum in Istanbul on 29th May on the occasion of the UEFA Champions League final. At the Forum, they will discuss the development of children’s football.
Football for Friendship is aiming to achieve its third GUINNESS WORLD RECORDSTM title this year as well. The programme already has two GUINNESS WORLD RECORDSTM title was achieved for the most nationalities in a football training session and the most users in a video football hangout.
Ivan Galayev, Young Player from Latvia, 12 y.o.: Dear participants at the events of F4F 2021, welcome to the world of nine values. It was a great pleasure and a great honour for me to take part in the Football for Friendship eWorld Championship in 2020. It’s the perfect place to experience friendship, peace and enthusiasm for the game of football. I wish you good luck and lots of fun in the 2021 games. Enjoy yourselves!
Muhammad Y Jallow, Young Player from Gambia, 14 y.o.: When my father first recommended that I take part in F4F, I didn’t really understand what it all meant. But when I started to look for more information, I understood that it’s about much more than a game. In fact, its key ideas are: 1. Fair play, 2. Football should not create disharmony but forge friendships. 3. The best way to play football is to train regularly. I train really hard. When I started playing football, all my teammates were at least three times better. I started working hard on myself until I got into the first team and even became the best player in the team. I have learnt never to give up. It was like a dream come true when I found out that I can take part in this fantastic project. Thank you for everything.
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Eight creators compete across five timed stages with eliminations, broadcast on Red Bull’s Twitch and YouTube channels.
Red Bull will stage a one-day Balatro speedrun competition, Red Bull Boss Rush, on April 17, 2026. The event brings together eight creators for timed runs in the roguelike deckbuilder, with viewers able to follow via individual creator POV streams and a central hub broadcast.
The competitor lineup includes Red Bull Player Ludwig, plus The Spiffing Brit, FrostPrime, Feinberg, Adef, Yahiamice, mbtyugioh and dreads. Red Bull said live commentary will be provided by esports host Yinsu ‘Yinsu’ Collins, card-game specialist Blake ‘Rarran’ Eram, and DrSpectered.
Boss Rush is structured as five 30-minute stages, with players ranked by completion time. Red Bull said the opening three stages use a shared random seed with unlimited resets, and points are awarded by placement each stage; the bottom four are eliminated after stage 3. Stage 4 determines the finalists, followed by a final winner-takes-all matchup.
The event also includes a downloadable Red Bull Boss Rush mod featuring a custom-branded deck and new Red Bull-themed Jokers, Bosses and Skip Tags. Red Bull highlighted additions including ‘Witch’, ‘Princess and Frog’, ‘Zebra’, Old Dog, ‘Pirate’, ‘Genie’, ‘Prince Charming’, and ‘Jester’, each designed to alter scoring or run economics.
Red Bull Boss Rush will stream on twitch.tv/redbull and Red Bull’s YouTube Gaming channel. Scan is supplying gaming PCs for the competition, according to the company.
Relevant data as follows:
- Red Bull Gaming on Twitch; https://www.twitch.tv/redbull Primary broadcast destination for the event.
- Red Bull Gaming on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/redbullgaming Secondary broadcast destination cited in the release.
- Red Bull Gaming: https://www.redbull.com/ Official Red Bull site for event context and confirmation.
- Balatro on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2379780/Balatro/ Authoritative reference for the game featured in the competition.
- Scan Computers: https://www.scan.co.uk/ PC supplier mentioned as providing systems for the event.
The post Red Bull runs one-day Balatro speedrun event, Boss Rush, on April 17 appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Brazil stands out for crash-game visibility, while Argentina fragments across 15 providers, according to Blask’s review of five markets.
Blask has published new data on casino lobby distribution across five Latin American markets—Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru—finding a shared baseline of Pragmatic Play dominance but sharply different secondary content patterns by country.
Across all five markets, Pragmatic Play “consistently dominates the top 30 most-distributed titles,” accounting for up to 16 positions in each country, Blask said. Beyond that layer, Blask argues there is “no single playbook” for how operators and aggregators build lobbies.
Brazil is the clearest outlier for mechanics, with crash-style titles such as Aviator and JetX appearing in the top 30, while similar formats are “largely absent” in the other markets analyzed. Blask also points to Brazil as the only country where Pocket Games Soft holds a meaningful distribution share, driven by its Fortune series.
Mexico shows the opposite pattern: the highest concentration of Pragmatic Play titles and a thinner secondary layer. Blask flagged Endorphina as an example of a provider appearing in Mexico’s top 30 but not elsewhere in its dataset.
Argentina is described as the most fragmented market, with 15 different providers represented in the top 30—more than any other country in the analysis—and broader visibility for live and table content. Chile “closely mirrors Mexico” structurally, Blask said, but includes a single non-Pragmatic title with near-ubiquitous placement across operator lobbies. Peru, meanwhile, spreads remaining top-30 positions across 12 providers, including studios not seen in the other markets and “legacy European brands such as Novomatic.”
Blask’s conclusion is that operators should not assume a winning lobby mix in one country will translate regionally. “Beyond the dominant layer, performance is defined not by regional trends, but by local player behavior and demand signals,” the company said.
The post Blask data shows LATAM casino lobbies diverge beyond Pragmatic Play’s baseline appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Casino lobbies across Latin America may look similar at first glance — but a deeper look reveals they operate on entirely different logic. According to new data from Blask, all five major region players (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru) share one common layer: Pragmatic Play consistently dominates the top 30 most-distributed titles, accounting for up to 16 positions in each market. But everything beyond that baseline tells a different story.
Crash games cluster in Brazil but not elsewhere
Brazil is the only market where crash-style mechanics achieve consistent visibility at the lobby level. Titles like Aviator and JetX both rank among the top 30, while similar formats are largely absent in the other four markets. At the same time, Brazil is the only country where a second provider, Pocket Games Soft, secures a meaningful share of distribution, driven entirely by its Fortune series. This dual pattern suggests a highly specific local demand profile rather than a regional trend.
Mexico runs on a tighter playbook
While Brazil expands, Mexico narrows. The market shows the highest concentration of Pragmatic Play titles and one of the most limited secondary layers. At the same time, it introduces isolated signals that don’t scale regionally such as the presence of Endorphina, which appears in the Mexican top 30 but nowhere else in the dataset.
Argentina breaks the pattern entirely
Argentina stands apart as the most fragmented market in the region. Its top 30 includes 15 different providers which is more than any other country analyzed. Unlike neighboring markets, where a handful of suppliers dominate, Argentina distributes visibility across a wide range of studios, particularly in live and table segments. The result is a lobby structure that resists standardization.
Chile shows how a single game can outperform the system
Chile closely mirrors Mexico in overall structure but with one key exception. A single non-Pragmatic title achieves near-ubiquitous placement across operator lobbies, becoming one of the strongest outliers in the entire dataset.This suggests that even in highly concentrated markets, individual titles can break through if they match local demand precisely.
Peru stretches the long tail further than anyone else
Peru takes the opposite approach to Mexico. While maintaining the same Pragmatic baseline, it distributes the remaining positions across 12 different providers, many of which do not appear in any other LATAM market analyzed. This includes both niche studios and legacy European brands such as Novomatic, pointing to a mix of underserved demand segments and alternative content sourcing strategies.
One region, no single playbook
The key takeaway from the analysis is simple: LATAM is not a unified market when it comes to content distribution. The same providers appear everywhere but the way their games are positioned, combined, and supplemented varies dramatically from country to country. For operators, this means that copying a successful lobby structure from one market to another is unlikely to work. Beyond the dominant layer, performance is defined not by regional trends, but by local player behavior and demand signals.
The post Same providers, different games: Blask uncovers hidden patterns in LATAM casino lobbies appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
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