The eCopa is born, an eSports competition organized by the RFEF and Planeta

Planeta will articulate its collaboration with the RFEF through its specialized esports division DeAPlaneta and its youth channel Neox, under OSL Spain, a competition brand created by the Korean eSports company OGN.

The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and the group Planet have launched the eCopa RFEF, the championship that will make it possible for any esports player to represent Spain in official FIFA competitions. Both organizations are promoting a tournament, free and open to all audiences, that will serve to form the Spanish efootball team that will have the possibility of representing Spain in the FIFA eNations Cup, scheduled for next May. This is the first time that a competition has been held to choose the national efootball team.

Planeta will articulate its collaboration with the RFEF through its division specialized in esports DeAPlaneta and its youth channel Neox, under the brand OSL Spain. OSL is the competition brand created by the Korean company specialized in eSports OGN, an international benchmark in the electronic sports industry.

Video games are a transversal and massive entertainment both globally and in Spain, the country where consumption and audience have grown the most in recent years: currently more than 24 million people are video game players, with an average of 9.5 hours a week of dedication. Of all the existing options, FIFA is the most played video game, and is also the best-selling in Europe throughout 2019, despite having gone on sale in the last quarter of the year.

José Creuheras, president of Grupo Planeta, states that "eSports are, without a doubt, a strategic channel for any company that wants to reach a young, technological and dynamic audience. We are aware of the impact they have on society and therefore, as an innovative and leading company, we wanted to provide value propositions that respond to these needs. And what better than to do it with football and share this project with an entity of the size of the RFEF that represents FIFA and UEFA in Spain and which in turn is the guarantor of the good development of the competitions.”

For his part, the president of the RFEF, Luis Rubiales, wanted to emphasize the importance of this initiative, which consolidates the commitment of the institution that directs football in Spain to esports. He has also highlighted the importance of a tournament open to the public, which will allow efootball to be spread nationally, as well as the fact that, through the competition, future members of the national team will also be chosen.

Two phases of competition

The RFEF eCopa will be played on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and will have two competition phases (online and in-person). Registration will be open to the first 4,000 participants. The registration period is now open and those players who want to become representatives of the Spanish efootball team must register on the website www.oslspain.com and follow the indicated steps.

The eCopa RFEF tournament will be made up of two competition phases, a first online and a second in-person, with two tournaments on the weekends of March 7-8 and 28-29. The online phase, which will start on February 17, will be divided into four territorial groups with a single-elimination round-trip format. The two finalists from each territorial group and from each platform (PlayStation 4 and Xbox) will play in the in-person final of the territorial tournament.

The finalists of the RFEF eCopa will qualify directly for the Grand Final. The rest of the players will be completed with the best players in the official FIFA ranking. The two winners, one for each console, will represent Spain in the FIFA eNations Cup in May.