eSports
KONAMI ANNOUNCES NEW ITALIAN ESPORTS TOURNAMENT COMING TO eFootball™
Konami Digital Entertainment B.V. announced the launch of a brand new esports tournament – the ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’. This is a new tournament based in Italy which will see the integration of eFootball™ partner clubs, their youth players, professional esports players, and – most importantly – their fans.
What is the ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’?
The ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’ represents a new esports venture for KONAMI and the football simulation gaming arena. The tournament will see the integration of three different players forming a team to represent each of the competing clubs. These are: A selected Youth team player; A professional esports player currently part of their existing squad; A club fan who wins an online qualification tournament.
This unique team composition of elite and grassroots esports players alongside the youth selection sees a melding of club representatives unlike anything seen on the current football simulation esports landscape.
Seven eFootball™ partner clubs to be involved
KONAMI is delighted to announce that all seven of its eFootball™ partner clubs based in Italy will be taking part in the ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’. These will include AC Milan, AC Monza, AS Roma, Atalanta BC, FC Internazionale Milano, SS Lazio, and SSC Napoli.
How the competition will work
Prior to the seven clubs taking each other on for the ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’ title, there be the selection processes for their three representatives.
Firstly, each club will hold an internal esports tournament between their Youth team players to determine a representative. This will come alongside a seminar from the KONAMI eFootball Activations team providing an insight into the ever-evolving world of esports and video gaming.
Secondly, there will also be an internal tournament at each club between their respective esports players to determine who will represent them as part of the tripartite.
Thirdly, eFootball™ will run an online in-game tournament for all gamers within Italy called the ‘KONAMICI’ this will be an Italian-only event within eFootball™ 2023. Players can register to compete online with the tournament lasting two weeks in total.
Players do not have to have played eFootball™ prior to this and can participate with no experience of the game. Each club fan can register online and select the club which they hope to represent.
From here, they will play a minimum of 30 online matches against fellow club fans, collecting points as they progress before the online ranking determines the top representatives.
The KONAMICI will take place only on Playstation®4 and Playstation®5 devices and will be free-to-play.
Tournament Schedule
The ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’ is a new form of esports competition with many different elements coming together to bring it to life. The qualification and selection for club representative squads and then the consequential tournament will occur in stages between December 2022 and April 2023.
The KONAMICI qualification phase will commence in February, allowing all seven participating clubs to gain their fan representative with final knockouts concluding by the end of March 2023.
Once each of the clubs has confirmed its three-person team, there will be an offline Group Stage phase where the clubs will play each other to determine their positions in their respective groups. This will be broadcast from the ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’ studio. This stage will affect the draw for the knock-out phase at the Grand Finals weekend later in April.
Finally, with group positions secured, clubs will be drawn against each other for the Quarter Finals. From here, it will be a straight knock-out tournament with two Semi Finals, a Third-place play-off (between the two clubs who lose their respective Semi Finals), and a Grand Final.
The Grand Finals weekend will be an offline, live event hosted at Napoli ComicCon on the weekend of the 22nd-23rd April.
The victorious club will take home a Grand Prize including a specialised eFootball™ multi-media and gaming centre to be installed at their youth training complex.
Throughout the tournament, there will also be a set of episodes of what is to be known as ‘eFootball™TV’ available on the official eFootball™ Youtube channel, recorded in the aforementioned ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’ studio.
These will include analysis and highlights from the ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’, interviews with the players, appearances from partner club players and legends, and an exclusive behind-the-scenes perspective giving fans an all-access view into how eFootball™ works and how the ‘Coppa eFootball Italia’ was brought to life.
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eSports
How Not to Tilt When Facing Challenges: NAVI Performance Coach Urszula Klimczak and GG.BET Have Released a Special Project about Mental Health
NAVI Performance Coach Urszula Klimczak and NAVI’s title sponsor GG.BET have unveiled Tilt Management, a special project dedicated to mental health. The initiative consists of three in-depth articles covering demotivation, burnout, and dealing with hate – some of the most common mental health challenges faced not only by esports players, but also by their fans. The project places a strong emphasis on practical value, featuring real-life esports cases, proven advice and everyday practices, as well as self-support exercises readers can apply on their own.
Mental health is becoming increasingly relevant year after year, regardless of profession or lifestyle. Many of the challenges professional players experience are familiar to millions of people in their everyday lives. These include loss of purpose, poor work-life balance, conflicts within teams, vulnerability to criticism, and more. While esports professionals can rely on performance coaches and team staff for support, people outside the industry often have to seek professional help on their own – something that does not always happen. One of the key goals of the project is to support people who may not have access to professional guidance by explaining how different issues manifest themselves, offering practical tools for self-care and recovery, and highlighting when it is important to seek help from specialists.
The first article focuses on demotivation. It explains how to recognize its early signs, how to distinguish it from simple exhaustion, and what NAVI does to prevent players from reaching this state. Particular attention is paid to techniques that help regain focus, manage daily routines, and gradually restore energy.
The second article explores burnout both within and beyond esports. Readers can assess themselves using descriptions of the five stages of burnout and their symptoms, learn about NAVI’s approach to maintaining performance under a demanding schedule, and discover why variety in everyday life and taking smaller, more frequent breaks are essential elements of burnout prevention.
The final chapter of the project addresses hate and negativity. It explains why hatred and aggression ultimately say more about the hater than the target, how to establish healthy boundaries, and how to avoid being consumed by criticism – especially self-criticism. NAVI’s strategy for dealing with hate, combined with practical exercises, can help readers to challenge negative thoughts and distinguish constructive feedback from a stream of harmful negativity.
All articles from the Tilt Management special project are available on EGamersWorld.
The post How Not to Tilt When Facing Challenges: NAVI Performance Coach Urszula Klimczak and GG.BET Have Released a Special Project about Mental Health appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
eSports
Esports Nations Cup 2026 Announces Official VALORANT Rosters
The Esports Foundation (EF) confirmed the official roster submissions and direct invite recipients for the VALORANT tournament at the Esports Nations Cup 2026 (ENC), the global nation-based esports competition set to debut in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from November 2-29, 2026.
111 rosters representing 111 countries and territories have been officially submitted and confirmed for the VALORANT tournament. 32 of those rosters will compete at the ENC Finals for VALORANT, with 16 countries and territories receiving direct invitations through the official ENC 2026 Rankings. The system has scored, accumulated and ranked submitted roster player performances across all official Riot Games competitions through the conclusion of Masters London. Those invited countries and territories, and their submitted rosters, are:
• UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – trent, valyn, leaf, zekken, skuba, Ethan and Cryocells
• REPUBLIC OF KOREA – iZu, BuZz, Francis, Munchkin, Ivy and Dambi
• PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA – ZmjKK, CHICHOO, nobody, Knight, slowly, K1Ra and Lysoar
• CANADA – TenZ, mada, eeiu, Marved, JonahP, koalanoob and Zander
• TÜRKIYE – Alfajer, Ruxic, Lar0k, RieNs, xeus, Wo0t and s0pp
• BRAZIL – aspas, artzin, spikeziN, Less, Sacy, Sato and lukxo
• SINGAPORE – Deryeon, Jinggg, nephh, STYRON, wayne, Vera and JayH
• POLAND – kayak, kamo, starxo, PROFEK, westside, paTiTek and UNFAKE
• PHILIPPINES – Zeus, kellyS, xavi8k, invy, PatMen, Markyyy and Wild0reoo
• GREAT BRITAIN – Lime, Severe, benjyfishy, keiko, Ticey and YaBoiLewis
• CHINESE TAIPEI – Nicc, SpiritZ1, WsLeo, Spring, S1Mon and Yuicaw
• MALAYSIA – d4v41, theDoctorr, xan, Riza, Fixy, toggle and aplycs
• FINLAND – Jamppi, Derke, iluri, Famsii, H1ber, hoody and Snowi
• LITHUANIA – Boo, MiniBoo, Koshmaras, Kajuks, Destrian, roxie and vakk
• THAILAND – killua, Primmie, JitboyS, PTC, Apinya and Kadoom
• CHILE – kiNgg, erde, Mazino, keznit, Tunaso, Shyy and david
A clear favourite emerges near the top of the rankings: the US. G2 Esports’ highly decorated and highly dangerous trio of trent, valyn, leaf lead the way for the US, with multiple VCT Americas stage trophies to their names, and the desire to finally claim an international trophy still in their hearts. Joining them though are a handful of superstars that have won on VALORANT’s biggest stages: VALORANT’s only two-time world champion Ethan, his reigning world champion NRG teammates skuba, and former Masters Madrid winner zekken of MIBR, joined by one of the game’s most elite players in Cryocells. The best of the best from one of the game’s strongest regions are all together on one roster, and expectations are sky high.
But they only have to look north to spot an equally dangerous contender. Leading Canada is one of Ethan and skuba’s teammates, fellow world champion mada. Joining him are more VCT Americas standout players in FURIA duo eeiu and koalanoob, and Sentinels’ jonahP. And coming out of retirement to compete for Canada are two former Sentinels stars, and Masters winners, in TenZ and Marved. A match between Canada and the US at ENC would be a dream come true for VALORANT fans not just in North America, but around the world.
Brazil is bringing back former champions of their own. Sacy, the only VALORANT player to be able to claim a Masters and a Champions trophy, is back with his former teammate Aspas and less, alongside FURIA’s artzin and LEVIATAN’s spikezin. LEVIATAN’s tremendous victory at Masters London not only drastically improved Brazil’s ranking, but allowed kiNgg and Chile to just narrowly sneak into the top 16 and secure an invite.
Nongshim RedForce trio Francis, Ivy and Dambi will make up the core of the team representing South Korea, with DRX star BuZz and Gen.G star Munchkin joining them, while the People’s Republic of China roster is bolstered by an equally dangerous trio in ZmjKK, CHICHOO and nobody from EDward Gaming. Across Europe, a number of prolific duos will attempt to bring glory to their home nations, including Vitality twosome Derke and Jamppi for Finland, keiko and EWC 2025 champion Benjyfishy for Great Britain, and brothers Boo and MiniBoo for Lithuania. Teams from Singapore, Türkiye, Poland and the Philippines are also decorated with sensational talent and former trophy winners.
With Masters London concluded and invites to the top 16 teams sent out, the attention turns to the online regional qualifiers taking place June 26-28. The top two teams from the qualifiers for North America, South America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia and Southeast Asia/Oceania will qualify for ENC, alongside the sole winners of the MENA qualifier and the Sub Saharan African qualifier. The final two teams will go to Wildcard slots.
The post Esports Nations Cup 2026 Announces Official VALORANT Rosters appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
AutoFull
AutoFull Powers IEM Cologne Major 2026 with World-First Massage Gaming Chairs Featuring Cooling & Heating Seat
IEM Cologne Major 2026 concluded on June 21, with Team FALCONS claiming the championship after intense competition. As the Official Gaming Chair Partner of ESL Pro Tour 2026–27, AutoFull provided full-event seating support, equipping pro players with its latest flagship, the world’s first massage gaming chairs with cooling and heating seats: the M6 Ultra+ 2.0 Shiatsu Massage Gaming Chair and the M6 Ultra 2.0 Ergonomic Gaming Chair.
AutoFull officially signed gaming chair partner with ESL Pro Tour in April 2026, covering major events across the 2026–2027 season including Intel Extreme Masters, ESL Pro League and ESL Challenger League. Prior to Cologne, AutoFull also supported IEM Rio and IEM Atlanta, establishing a strong presence across the global competitive circuit.
“We are truly honored to support the ESL Pro Tour 2026–2027 season as the Official Gaming Chair Partner. Elite esports athletes require sustained focus and endurance during marathon matches. Through our professional seating technology, we aim to help these world-class competitors perform at their absolute best,” said Anna Ding, the Founder of AutoFull.
“We’re also incredibly proud to celebrate our brand ambassador, NiKo, on his recent Major championship victory. Watching him achieve this milestone is a testament to the dedication, resilience, and pursuit of excellence that define top-tier esports competition.”
Two AutoFull ergonomic gaming chair models, the M6 Ultra+ 2.0 Shiatsu and the M6 Ultra 2.0, integrate professional ergonomic design with tailored features for high-performance users.
The AutoFull M6 Ultra+ 2.0 combines a professional-grade 3D Shiatsu back and leg massage system, a climate-controlled cushion with dual-fan ventilation and graphene heating, adaptive dynamic lumbar tracking, 720° mechanical armrests and a 160° recline with an extendable footrest.
The AutoFull M6 Ultra 2.0 features an integrated ventilation, heating and massage system as well, 6-way adaptive lumbar tracking that follows the natural curve of the spine, a 3D ErgoCloud Neck Pillow with ultra soft cloud-like neck support, 720° multi-directional armrests and a 90°–160° recline for total comfort.
The post AutoFull Powers IEM Cologne Major 2026 with World-First Massage Gaming Chairs Featuring Cooling & Heating Seat appeared first on EE Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
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