The Portuguese Football Federation, the governing body for football in Portugal, has created a campaign focused on popularising esports, in particular football simulation games.
The campaign, called ‘it will never be just a game’ wants to share information about esports and its possibilities with a broader audience in Portugal. According to the announcement, it will be focused on universities across Portugal.
The Portuguese FA noted that the rising popularity of esports, and football simulation games, drew the governing body to support digital football with an overarching campaign. The campaign’s goal is to popularise esports competition in digital football – eFootball and FIFA – and help young players compete in a series of events that will take place throughout the year.
This is not the first time Portugal is supporting digital football. The country’s top-flight football division clubs participate in the eLiga, the country’s official FIFA tournament. The tournament sees the likes of Benfica, Boavista, Sporting and Braga compete in esports.
Portugal also has a specialised esports division inside its FA, called FPF eFootball, which is tasked with organising the eLiga, as well as preparing the Portugal National Team in esports.
The main highlight of the campaign is a video featuring well-known footballers and esports athletes in Portugal, including FIFAe Club World Cup 2022 winner Tuga 810 as well as Rodrigol, JAfonso, TiagoAraujo and Liverpool footballer Diogo Jota.
Jota is actually an owner of an esports organisation called Diogo Jota Esports which competed in the eLiga in Portugal.
