‘Biggest ever’ esports tournament announced

The Gibraltar Digital Skill Academy, GEVGA and Frequency on Monday announced the launch of Gibraltar’s “biggest ever” esports event.

The FIFA knockout tournament will be played over two days on August 12 and 13 where players will be competing for a prize pool worth over £3000.

The event will be hosted at Boyd’s and apart from the tournament, there will be exhibition matches and retro gaming machines with games such as Pro Evolution Soccer, Street Fighter II and Gran Turismo available to be played.

The first round of tickets have already been sold and more tickets have been made available for more participants.

Matches will be played on PlayStation 5 with eight matches happening simultaneously, the organisers said.

“Esports is one of the fastest growing industries at the moment, with the esports market currently worth over $1.4 billion,” the organisers added.

“More and more countries are organising regional and international esports events seeing crowds of over 43,000 attend live and over 500,000 watching online.”

“The FIFA knockout tournament is Gibraltar’s chance to embrace and support this growing global trend and bring 21st Century entertainment into our community.”

Stewart Harrison, Founding Trustee of the GDSA, said this event is going to be “one of the most exciting seen to date”.

“There is a huge educational value to embracing esports and online gaming,” he said in a statement.

“Not only can we highlight and educate how to play online safely and responsibly, but it can also foster core skills such as communication and teamwork.”

“There’s also the opportunity to represent Gibraltar at international events such as the Commonwealth games and the Global esports games in Dubai this year.”

“However, if our community doesn’t embrace and support such events, we will only observe from the sidelines as other countries grow and embrace the amazing opportunities esports can bring to so many, especially our youth who deserve such opportunities as others across the world.”