At the end of 2016, Deputy Prime Minister Russian Federation Vitaly Mutko at a meeting of the executive committee of the Russian Football Union made it clear that cyber football is of interest to sports officials. “We thought that the development of e-football is an interesting topic. At this stage, the Ministry of Sports approved the esports federation. We need to figure out if e-football will enter it or become a kind of football. We
we can hold Russian championships under the auspices of the RFU. Perhaps we will hold the World Cyber Football Championship in Russia. Maybe at least we will become champions in it, ”the official said at the time.
20 days after that announcement, the Russian Football Premier League announced the holding of the RFPL Open Championship and the OLYMPUS RFPL Cyber Football Cup. The latter will be held in the entertainment complex "Lights of Ufa" from 24 to 26 February 2017. “This is the official tournament of the Russian Premier League. It is not the player who will receive the cup, but the club that he represents. We will make a beautiful sports event. This is the first experience in Russia, when within the league players will compete in the field of cyber football, ”explains one of the organizers of the upcoming tournament, head of the Bashkir branch of the Computer Russia Federation Azamat Muratov.
This is the official tournament of the Russian Premier League. It is not the player who will receive the cup, but the club that he represents.
RFPL Executive Director Proximity of the audience of football and e-football. “Life has shown that esports has a huge future both in terms of investments and audience coverage. And we are very interested that the audience involved in e-sports was our audience, so we found common points of contact. I think that cyber football and big football will exchange audiences, ”Cheban said.
Cybersportsmen also talk about mixing real and virtual football. So, the player signed by "Zenith" Ruslan Yaminov admits that from the age of six he played football, but failed to become a professional athlete. “Now I have the opportunity to benefit my favorite club in cyberspace,” he adds. "I feel a great responsibility and a desire to prove that esports is serious."
Now I have the opportunity to benefit my favorite club in cyberspace.
Similarly, I got into esports and Robert "Ufenok77" Fakhretdinov... He played football since childhood, and after a knee injury switched to virtual games. He is now one of the strongest players in FIFA. Among his achievements, in particular, the title of World Champion 2015 according to the WSVG version and the victory in the Russian Cup in 2016. At the OLYMPUS RFPL Cyber Football Cup, Robert will represent FC Ufa, which was one of the first Russian clubs to attend to the search and signing of a cybersports player.
"OLYMPUS RFPL Cyber Football Cup" might not have seen the light of day, if not for Electronic Arts, which managed to interest football clubs in its game. The pioneer was the German football club Wolfsburg, which signed a contract with cyber football players in January 2016. The trend was picked up by other eminent clubs - Besiktas, Schalke 04, Sporting, West Ham United, Manchester City, Bayern, PSG and Lyon. The first Russian football club to sign a contract with an e-sportsman was Volga. A week before the start of the competition, almost all Russian clubs playing in the elite division of the Russian championship announced the signing of contracts with e-sportsmen.
“Real football draws much attention away from e-football. There are many people playing FIFA, but some of them just don't know that it is also a very interesting competition. This has never been popularized before, including by the developers themselves, unlike, say, League of Legends. Electronic Arts began investing in e-sports only last year, "says the head of the Russian Cyber Football Federation. Yuri Soshinsky.
16 players will take part in the upcoming tournament, each of whom will represent their own football club. Playing for Spartak Sergey "kefir" Nikiforov considers the esportsmen of the football clubs CSKA, Zenit and Ufa to be the main favorites of the competition. The Spartak player himself, who is a two-time Russian champion in FIFA, is included in this list.
The list of participants in the OLYMPUS RFPL Cyber Football Cup:
Ruslan Yaminov (FC Zenit)
Sergey "kefir" Nikiforov (FC "Spartak")
Andrey "Timon" Guriev (FC CSKA)
Anton "KLENOFF" Klenov and Konstantin "STAVR" Girin (both of FC Lokomotiv)
Robert "Ufenok77" Fakhretdinov (FC Ufa)
Kirill "Aruhito" Ordinartsev (FC "Orenburg")
Alexey Oleinik (FC Rostov)
Maxim Kirilov (FC Krylya Sovetov)
Ilya Belosludtsev (FC Amkar)
Omar Aliyev (FC Ural)
Shamil Kurbangadzhiev (FC Anji)
Andrey Konnov (FC Krasnodar)
Valentin Moroz (FC Tom)
Vyacheslav Alkhazov (FC Arsenal)
Umar Baysagurov (FC "Terek")
Anton Zhukov (FC Rubin)
One of the tournament participants, e-sportsman football club Orenburg Kirill Ordinartsev expects that after such an event people, organizations and sponsors will have a great interest in cyber football. The player admits that he began preparations for the competition immediately after signing a contract with the football club: "I try to pair with strong players as much as possible, analyze the past matches and look for the best combinations, schemes and tactics for the upcoming tournament."
After such an event, people, organizations and sponsors will have a great interest in cyber football.
Sergei “kefir” Nikiforov from “Spartak”, on the other hand, is going to devote intensive preparation for the Cup only the last few days before the start of the tournament: “I always have three days to prepare for tournaments, I just sit down and play a little more than usual. On a typical day, I set aside two hours for the game, and before the competition I will play five or six hours a day. "
However, the success of the event depends not only on the preparation of the players. it is important how this tournament will be presented in the media, in particular on television. At the moment, the broadcast of the matches was announced by the Game Show TV channel. Games will be shown on the website of the Russian Football Premier League and on the pages of the Premier League clubs in social networks. One of the information partners of the tournament is the Championship.
“If you’re a football club and are worried about a new generation of potential fans playing League of Legends, then you need to go and pick them up in alternative ways,” says EA Sports CEO Peter Moore. This quote best explains why European clubs are increasingly signing contracts with virtual football players, and individual leagues are organizing full-fledged esports championships.
There are now two major virtual soccer series in the world, but the popularity of FIFA and its Japanese rival PES (Pro Evolution Soccer) is incomparable. FIFA 17 sold 1.1 million copies in its first week in the UK alone, as many in Germany and other European countries. PES is selling out about 40 times worse, but even such sales volumes do not prevent Konami from signing contracts with Barcelona and UEFA. Simultaneously with Euro 2016, a PES tournament was organized, the matches of which were broadcast in the fan zone near the Eiffel Tower. Even if the outsider has enough resources for such events, then the market should be recognized as serious.
It is clear that clubs are mastering esports in the hope of making money: the industry is developing extremely intensively. According to a Newzoo report, total esports revenues were $ 492 million in 2016, and are expected to grow to $ 1.5 billion by 2020. The audience already now exceeds 300 million people a year: 162 million is a permanent audience, 161 million watch tournaments rarely, from time to time.
In the United States, the interest in esports is so great that individual players and teams are signed by specific athletes. Brooklyn Nets point guard Jeremy Lin created a Dota2 team with his own money and called it Team VGJ. Another basketball player, Rick Fox, acquired the existing team, but renamed it Echo Fox. Among football players, the Brazilian Ronaldo showed interest in e-sports, having invested in 50% of the shares of the local team CNB e-Sports Club. Gerard Piquet is also going to create an e-sports project from scratch - by the way, he already has a video game company Kerad Games.
What is this all for?
Despite the explosive growth of esports, virtual football is not yet so profitable. In the ranking of the most popular online games, FIFA 17 does not even crawl into the top ten. To make a difference and motivate players, the creators of the game (EA Sports) founded the FIFA Interactive World Cup, which is being spent more and more every year. In 2017, the prize pool will be $ 1.3 million, of which $ 200,000 will go to the winner. This is 10 times more than last year, but still very little in comparison with global esports - for example, the winner of the main Dota2 tournament (The international) was paid more than $ 8 million last year.
“FIFA 17 is played by millions of people every day. Many of them learn about the players and teams through the game, choose whom to root for in the future. If only for these reasons, we are interested in esports, ”explains Diego Gigliani, senior vice president of media and innovation at City Football Group (Manchester City and New York City). The English club was one of the first to sign a contract with a cyber football player - 19-year-old Kieran Brown. Not only does he represent City in various tournaments, he is also committed to the number of live streams on Twitch and uploaded videos to YouTube. On match days, Fifer meets with the club's fans and teaches them how to play FIFA 17. A similar model has already been adopted by Wolfsburg, West Ham, PSV, Ajax, Sporting Lisbon, PSG, Brøndby, Panathinaikos "," River Plate ".
Cyber football is most actively developed at the league level in France and Holland. Ligue 1 in October last year announced the holding of the first tournament in FIFA 17. Most likely, PSG will win it - the sheikhs decided to take the best in this situation, having signed the two-time world champion August Rosenmeier and one of the most promising Fifers, Luca Kjell. The Dutch announced the creation of a virtual Eredivisie only in mid-January, but it is already known that the matches will be broadcast not only by Twitch and YouTube, but also by the local television company Fox Sports. Each cyber football player will be considered a real representative of his club.
There are no stand-alone tournaments in England yet, but the Champions League broadcaster BT Sport has agreed with EA to broadcast key events in the Fifa Ultimate Team Championship Series. This is the first time e-football will enter such a large platform and will appear on serious television. First, BT Sport will show the North American qualifier for the FIFA 17 World Cup, then the Asia-Pacific region will join, then the European qualifiers will take place, and the final stage will take place in Berlin on May 20-21.
Now in Russia
The third European League, where the official FIFA 17 championship appeared, turned out to be Russia.
Before the resumption of the Premier League, a tournament was held in Ufa, in which representatives of all 16 clubs played. “In the future, the cyber football championship will most likely run parallel to the real one,” said Yuri Soshinsky, head of the Russian Cyber Football Federation. “So far, this Cup is a kind of independent tournament without continuation.”
Soshinsky admits that in fact, the Russian FIFA Championship has been held for three years without any participation from the RFPL. “This championship is part of a global tournament hosted by EA and FIFA. The winner of our tournament will have the opportunity to reach the final in London through the next few stages. At the same time, there will be a separate stage for those who directly represent football clubs ”.
After the recognition of esports at the state level, the federation did better. Virtual football has ceased to be an unrecognized hobby for teenagers after the November meeting of the RFU Executive Committee. Then the mayor of Kazan and the president of "Rubin" Ilsur Metshin invited Vitaly Mutko to develop a fashionable theme. The idea was publicly supported, but no actual steps were taken from the RFU. Then the RFPL played ahead of the curve by organizing the Russian Cup.
The league as a whole should be happy with the tournament: on the official YouTube channel of the RFPL, broadcasts of the three days of the competition gathered a total of about 200 thousand views (on average, the video on the channel gains about 5 thousand, with the exception of match reviews). On VKontakte, the broadcasts of matches have collected more than 720 thousand views.
“Everything in our country, in fact, is being built from scratch - we have received some kind of support from the government only in the last year. Before that, there was nothing. We came to the Premier League three years ago, but then it was not very interesting for them: they did not understand why it was necessary. But now we are actively cooperating with them. We talked to the RFU several times, no more. They seem to be interested in the development of cyber football, but they are not doing anything, ”Soshinsky notes.
Russian clubs do not yet fully understand the prospects for the new direction. Until the last moment, some chose who would represent them at the Cup in Ufa, and it is possible that all cooperation will end with participation in the obligatory tournaments.
“Not a single Russian club can be called progressive in terms of the development of virtual football. There are several of them in the world, - said the head of the Cyber Football Federation. - The only thing that Spartak has better than others is that they took the only player in the country whose level of play and media coverage are comparable. But he is the only one, the rest will catch up with time. "
Spartak signed a contract with Sergey "Kefir" Nikiforov. Now it is the most recognizable Fifer in the country: 150 thousand subscribers on VKontakte, 700 thousand on YouTube. At the tournament in Ufa, Nikiforov dropped out at the quarter-finals stage, losing the derby to Andrey Guryev from CSKA. In the fall, Guryev won the Russian championship, and now he has got the Cyber Football Cup for the army team.
“My opinion is that all the clubs were simply forced to determine the footballer who would participate in the Cup and the championship on their behalf. It feels like after these tournaments the guys will be forgotten until the next major competition, - noted Kefir. - Clubs do not quite understand what it is. They will pay them a flight, give them a club jersey to perform - and that's it. "
Zenit also confirms that Russian clubs are only looking at cyber football. Commenting on cooperation with the best cyber football player of St. Petersburg Ruslan Yaminov, the club noted that the contract is short-term.
“The current agreement is preliminary in nature and is designed for three months, until May 2017, but we expect that RFPL tournament our cooperation with Ruslan will not be limited, - said Zenit. - We have serious plans for joint work. It is absolutely certain that Zenit fans have an interest in cyber football, and the news of the beginning of cooperation with Ruslan Yaminov caused a response no less than the message about the newcomers of the first football team. "
OLYMPUS RFPL Cyber Football Cup - the first official cyber football tournament from RFPL and we could not pass by and decided to give our forecast. The forecast is not a rewarding business and we do not insist that it will coincide by 100%, but we really want to believe that our forecast will coincide with reality at least by 70-80%.
- We study the players and see our forecast at the end of this news! Also, do not forget that everyone has the opportunity to place a bet on this tournament, read the article to the end!
- Andrey "Timon" Guryev
Age: 18 years old
City: Nizhny Novgorod
- Achievements:
- Top 1 Lawson Cup 2016 Moscow (PS4)
- Top 4 ESWC World Cup Grand Finals 2016 (Paris) Xbox One (FUT)
- Top 1 Russian Championship 2016 / ESWC Russia, Moscow (2016) PS4
Andrey Guryev- the last winner of the Russian Championship, top 4 of the world according to ESWC. Of course, such acquired experience for recent times certainly gives Andrey a chance to compete for victory and also be one of the three main favorites of the tournament. Emotionally, he has become very strong, thanks to such an experience lately. Andrey's strong quality - control of the ball in the game, thoughtful combinations, as well as two well-played schemes in the game
- Sergey "KEFIR" Nikiforov
Age: 23 years old
City: Mytishchi
Platform: PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
- Achievements:
- Two-time winner of the Russian cyber football championship in 2012 and 2015
- Participant of the World Championship 2015
- 2016 strawberry field cup winner
Sergey Nikiforov- one of the most titled players, and also, perhaps, the most famous FIFA player in the CIS. Despite the fact that Sergei now pays less attention to e-sports, he did not play worse. Sergey's stable result is to be in the top of any tournament. Sergey's style of play is known to everyone and has not changed, perhaps, for a long time - the "diamond" scheme and fast, aggressive attacks with a good variety of feints. But in 85 * mode, the number of feint options is sharply reduced. Will it play against Sergei? The experience of playing in tournaments with a rating of 85 speaks for him.
- Anton Zhukov
Age: 20 years old
City: Kazan
Platform: Playstation 4
- Achievements:
- Top 3 Russian Championship 2016
- Top 8 Lawson Cup 2016
- Top 1 Cyberiada 2015 Kazan
Anton Zhukov is one of the best FIFA players in Russia. Anton constantly manages to get into the top of any tournament and impose a fight and his own game on any player. No one has ever said that it would be easy with him. A simple and open guy who can give results and get the most out of himself, being not even in in better shape... His game is attractive, because he tries to do everything as close as possible to real football - play combinations and possess the ball.
- Andrey “22DRON11” Konnov
Age: 19 years old
Krasnodar city
Platform: PlayStation 4
- Achievements:
- Top 1 Championship of Krasnodar June 18, 2016
- Top 1 FK Krasnodar esports nordic event according to FIFA 17 01/22/2017
Andrey Konnov- perhaps the strongest player in Krasnodar. An avid fan of bulls. Andrey did not find high places in high-level competitions, but one cannot but consider him the dark horse of the tournament. Of course, he will not have enough experience and it will be important for him to cope with his nerves. And if he can catch his wave, will it be possible that the favorites will get on the nerves?
- Valentin Moroz
Age: 22 years old
Tomsk city
Platform: PlayStation 4
- Kirill "Aruhito" Ordinartsev
Age: 19 years old
City: Ulyanovsk
Platform: PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
- Achievements:
- Top 4 Russian Championship 2016
- Top 3-4 Lawson Cup 2016
- Top 1 Cyber Games in Kazan 2016
Kirill Ordinartsev is one of the outstanding players on the territory of Russia. Recently, Kirill began to show stable results, winning regional tournaments, as well as becoming the 4th in the Russian championship. A psychological moment can play an important role for Cyril - his positioning as a winner and champion has not fully matured. But a well-structured game can help to achieve a high result.
- Anton "KLENOFF" Klenov
Age: 20 years old
Moscow city
Platform: PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
- Achievements:
- Top 2 CIS, Russian Championship 2016
- Top 3 Russian Cup (2016)
- Top 3 Russian Cup (2015)
- Thor 1 qualification for the RFPL Cyber Football Championship
Anton Klenov is also one of the top three favorites. Multiple prize-winner of major Russian online and LAN tournaments. Many times Anton lacked only one step to win titles and it is very likely that he will be able to take this step this time. The huge online experience of victories and tournaments in FIFA 17, as well as the killer micro-control of the player in the game can play a great service to Anton, with a rating format of 85
- Robert "UFENOK77" Fakhretdinov
Age: 20 years old
City Ufa
Platform: PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
- Achievements:
- Thor 5-6 Russian Championship 2016
- Top 1 Russian Cup 2016, Ulyanovsk (PS4)
- Thor 1 CIS Peoples' Friendship Cup 2016
- Top 1 WSVG World Championship 2015
- Top 2 World Championship according to ESWC 2013
Robert Fakhretdinov is one of the best FIFA players in our country. Undoubtedly one of the three main favorites of the upcoming tournament. Huge experience of LAN tournaments, both Russian and European. Good defensive play and counter-attacking play building, with strong individual action, is Ufenka's formidable weapon. Let's see if he can show his game with an overall rating of 85 *
- Ruslan "SHD" Yaminov
Age: 23 years old
City: Saint Petersburg
Platform: PlayStation 4
- Achievements:
- Thor 5-6 Russian Championship 2016
- Thor 2 VK FEST 2016
- Thor 9-12 Russian Cup 2016
Ruslan Yaminov is perhaps the strongest FIFA player in St. Petersburg. Undoubtedly one of the favorites of any tournament in Russia. If Ruslan catches his wave and drive, it is very difficult to stop him. The support of his fans greatly influences his emotional component. With and without support, they are two different players. Knowing the devotion of Zenith fans, Ruslan will certainly have a lot of support at this tournament, which he will feel. In terms of play, he has something to surprise. He has achieved great progress lately, while at the same time he loves to quickly build his attacks in a vertical way.
- Maxim Kirilov
Age: 19 years old
Samara city
Platform: PlayStation
- Achievements:
- Thor 5-6 Cyberiada 2016
- Thor 1 Qualification “Wings of the Soviets” 2017
Interview with this player here:
- Ilya Belosludtsev
Age: 18 years old
City: Perm
Platform: Playstation 4
- Achievements:
- Top 1 Qualifications in FC “Amkar”
- Thor 3 Ural Cups 2016
- Umar Baysagurov
Age: 30 years old
City Grozniy
Platform: not specified
Achievements:
The player did not participate anywhere or no data
A lover of playing real football, this quality can help him in the virtual space, because in cyber football, physical condition is also important.
- Omar "Omar" Aliyev
Age: 18 years old
Yekaterinburg city
Platform: PlayStation
- Achievements:
- Top 1 Qualifications of FC Ural
Interview with this player here:
Shamil "SHOOOMA1" Gurbangadzhiev
Represented by: FC Anji Makhachkala
Age: 25 years old
Town:-
Platform: not specified
Achievement:
Top 1 Qualifications in FC "Anji"
In his interview, he said that he wants to show his maximum and not let his club down.
- Vyacheslav "JUHURO" Alkhazov
Age: 21 years
Moscow city
Platform: PlayStation
- Achievements:
- Thor 1 Qualifications at FC Arsenal
- Thor 8 Russian Championship 2015
Interview with this player here:
- Alexey “DON_KLASS4ESKY” Oleinik
Age: 26 years old
Rostov-on-Don
Platform: not specified
Achievements:
Russian Cup participated
Russian Championship participated
Top 1 Qualifications in FC Rostov
He is fond of sports, also an engineer by profession, perhaps he sees the game well and reads the opponent's tactics, he also won the tournament from the Rostov football club in a difficult struggle and came here clearly not to lose.
Group stage forecast:
Forecast for the Play-off stage:
