Italy is European champion: the eNAzionale has won the first official tournament organized by UEFA. The victory against Serbia in the final was decisive
Italy is European Champion 2020, thanks to the 3-1 victory against Serbia in the final. Do you think it's a joke? It's not. In fact, the Italian national team has won the first edition of the UEFA eEURO 2020, the tournament organized by UEFA and played on PES 2020, one of the most popular soccer video games in Italy. In the absence of real soccer (the European championships have been postponed to 2021 because of the Coronavirus), virtual soccer is increasingly winning the hearts of fans, thanks to video games that imitate real soccer to perfection.
Even the FIGC is focusing on the emerging market of eSports, now able to bill bill billions of euros every year. In Italy we are a little bit behind, but in the last months we have made great strides. The Lega di Serie A, before the outbreak of the pandemic, was ready to organize the first virtual Serie A championship, which would take part in almost all the teams of the top series. While the FIGC created its own team formed by Rosario 'Npk_02' Accurso, Nicola 'nicaldan' Lillo, Carmine 'Naples17x' Liuzzi and Alfonso 'AlonsoGrayfox' Mereu, the quartet that won the title of European champions.
The Federation also launched the Twitch channel, the live streaming platform dedicated mainly to the world of video games. All the matches of the Azzurri were broadcast on the channel, including the final victory against Serbia. The matches were also broadcast on TIMVISION, the official sponsor of the eNational team.
eSports, Italy wins the 2020 European Championships in virtual football
Football is at a standstill in most of Europe and the 2020 European Championships have been postponed until next year: what better opportunity to grow the world of eSports? That's what UEFA must have thought when it decided to organize the first virtual championship dedicated to national teams. UEFA eEuro 2020 has seen the participation of almost all European federations that have faced first an elimination phase and then the direct clashes.
The tournament was played on PES 2020, the official video game of the European Championship 2020 and on which from June 4 will be available a free DLC (downloadable content) dedicated to the European Championship. Although the 2020 European Championship will not be played, Konami has decided to release the update with the official roster of UEFA's 55 national teams, two new stadiums (Wembley and St. Petersburg), the official ball of the event and special events that will be announced in the coming days.
The path of the national team has been almost perfect: qualification to the quarter-finals obtained quite easily, 2-0 victory against Israel in the quarter-finals, another 2-0 to liquidate France in the semifinals and a hard-fought 3-1 victory against Serbia in the final.
How was the Uefa eEuro 2020 played? What are the rules of virtual soccer? Each national team consists of four players and each challenge involves two games, played by two different players. At the end the goals are added up to get the final result. In the event of a draw, a third match is played (in the knockout stages).