Roksaa22 wins our eFootball Weekly tournament!

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Week 7 is behind us, and with it we are down to just two games left in the main A1 Adria League Weekly series of tournaments and the A1 Student eChallenge. Over the weekend, we saw the eFootball competition end, and awarded our first-ever A1 Adria League Weekly eFootball winner! 

As we look towards the CS2 and EA FC Mobile events that will take place in the following weeks, lets recap the eFootball action that unfolded over the weekend. Last week’s qualifiers seeded four players in two groups, for a total of eight players divided between groups A and B. In group A, Filip26 and Roksaa22 advanced to the finals on Sunday, and Group B unfolded in a different fashion. Football_Hunter4 won all of his matches in the group earlier due to him participating in a major international eFootball tournament organised by KONAMI. This saw him enter the final earlier than other players and he was joined by Boki_Todor in the playoffs.

The four players entered the double elimination bracket, and the first round saw Roksaaa and Football_hunter advance through, both upper bracket matches ended with clean 2:0 sweeps. In the lower bracket, Boki won his match against Filip. Hunter lost his second game of the tournament in the upper bracket final to Roksaaa22 and dropped to the lower bracket where he promptly made short work of Boki. 

This all made for an exciting final match between Hunter and Roksaa22. Hunter needed to reset the bracket with two wins, which he managed to easily do and made it 2:2 in the final match. However, the final match did not go his way, and he lost to Roksaa22 2:1, making Roksaa22 our new Weekly Champion! 

The action continues into this week, and will unfold over the next three weeks. We only have CS2 and EA FC Mobile remaining, and this week is all about the CS2 qualifiers. 

Make sure to follow the action!

eFootball’s journey from rock bottom

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Konami’s football series of games is interesting. In the Balkans, it’s hard to find a single person who had a PlayStation 1, and did not own PES (the predecessor to eFootball, to all of you kids). PES was, and still is, a cultural icon here, but eFootball has struggled to reach the level of fame that its competitor, EA FC or FIFA, as we still call it, has. So let’s talk PES, eFootball, and all in between.

eFootball was born in 2021 as a successor to the acclaimed Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) series of games, which first launched in 1995. On launch, the game was terrible and universally hated for almost every feature, ranging from graphics to its newly introduced free-to-play model. Critics noted that it was “unplayable” and outright laughed at its sub-par graphics and overall presentation. Its Steam page had more than 11,000 reviews posted, and just 9% of them were positive. The launch was called the worst in history, and eFootball is still struggling to bounce back – its Steam reviews are now “mixed”, which is a significant improvement.

The only thing they did not criticise all that much was the actual gameplay, which, in traditional PES fashion, remained slower, more technical and complex than FIFA. Still, with everything else against it, that was just a silver lining.

With FIFA and later EA FC having a yearly release cycle that requires players to buy the game each year, eFootball’s creators decided on a different idea: making it free to play with yearly updates so that players don’t have to pay money to get the game. This starkly contrasts with EA FC, a game that needs to be bought, yet has layers upon layers of microtransactions. eFootball still has these microtransactions, but with the base being free, it’s an easier pill to stomach. 

Today, eFootball is still struggling financially, but it is a very interesting saga of trying to reinvent a franchise by making it something completely different. The free-to-play model is working well, but with Konami being a smaller developer than EA, there’s simply no competition here. 

When it comes to esports, the game is still well-loved by professional players; some even play both EA FC and eFootball professionally. It’s a more realistic approach, which makes it more rewarding, but again, the fewer tournaments make it more of a niche title than a real contender for the number one spot in football games. EA’s machinery is simply too strong for many of its contenders, even if they only successfully force customers to pay for features that should’ve been in the game for free. In 2025, Konami made moves to invest more into regional leagues for eFootball, which might prove to be a very good thing, but one that we’ll see the effects of later. 

All in all, eFootball is a Balkans icon still, and with almost 100 players in each qualifier for the A1 Adria League weekly tournaments it definitely has a lot going for it in the region. 

Make sure you watch the playoffs this weekend! 

CMM are the new (old) Brawl Stars champions!

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The weekend behind us was the biggest of the year so far, with three games, two rounds of qualifiers each and a big final to round it all up. We played and watched Brawl Stars qualifiers and finals, the qualifiers for the eFootball tournament, as well as the qualifiers for the A1 Student eChallenge in League of Legends. 

Brawl Stars unfolds without many surprises

Week six gave us the champions of the Weekly tournament in Brawl Stars, a very popular game for the A1AL. More than 50 teams competed in two rounds of qualifiers to find the best four teams in the region. On day one, CMM (formerly Salada de Frutas, the best team in the history of A1AL) dominated all the way through to the final, where they forfeited the match to La Passion, allowing the La Passion roster to have a better seed in the playoffs. An interesting move by CMM, and a bit of a cheeky idea that is not seen in many esports tournaments.

In the second day of the qualifiers, 33 teams competed for the remaining two spots in the finals. Delulu, the semifinalists who got knocked out by CMM in the first qualifier, ended up in the finals this time around against Crazy Bears, and qualified for the playoffs. The playoffs were very interesting to anyone but CMM, because the team’s looming presence meant that all intense matches happened before the finals themselves. We would like to point out an amazing match by Crazy Bears against Delulu which they almost managed to win by reverse sweeping Delulu, but the favourites still managed to win. The final match between CMM and Delulu provided little in the sense of drama, with CMM sweeping Delulu 3:0 easily and taking one more title of the best regional BS team.

EFootball and League of Legends

The eFootball tournament had more than 90 players participating in the first round of qualifiers, with some of the best regional names joining the tournament. eFootball is a very popular game in the region despite it falling off to EA FC lately, and we are very happy to have had the opportunity to host a tournament in the football game. The first round of qualifiers had seven Serbian players make it to the top 8, and in the end we had some of the best regional players, such as Hunterz10 and Roksaa22 joined by filip26 and hazard-BiH. 

The second qualifier had a total of 70 entries, with a large number of players from esports teams joining the competition as well. The favourites managed to earn their spots in the end, with Boki_todor, TommyShelby1987, SteelThunder_HR and Čiba making it. Interestingly, Čiba is one of the youngest players in the tournament and this was his first big esports tournament – a great achievement! 

The eFootball playoffs will take place over the upcoming weekend, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

In the A1 Student eChallenge, we saw four teams compete for the playoff spots. FER Nabadači, Niska Očekivanja, Smrljivi Sirevi i Štrukani Pelin. The qualifiers had two sweeps, with Nabadači and Štrukani Pelin advancing to the final stage of the bracket which will be played this Thursday. Niska Očekivanja and Smrdljivi Sirevi will have one more chance to make it to the finals via the lower bracket.

With week 6 wrapped up, we are entering Week 7 and there are not many rounds left to play. Make sure to follow the action!

The Biggest Weekend Yet in A1 Adria League: Brawl Stars, eFootball & LoL

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We’re getting close to the end of week six of the A1 Adria League Weekly tournaments and the A1 Student eChallenge, and the weekend ahead will be the biggest one yet in terms of players and games. We’ll be watching qualifiers for eFootball, the qualifiers and playoffs for Brawl Stars, and the qualifiers for the League of Legends tournament in the A1SeC. This is the first week with three games, so it’s bound to be interesting.

The Weekly events and the Student eChallenge have really ramped up, and we’re now approaching the final stages of the season. There are only five weekends of competition left (including this one), and the final three weeks will be focused exclusively on EA FC Mobile for students and pro players, and Counter-Strike 2. 

This weekend, we’re starting off with two rounds of Brawl Stars qualifiers, open to anyone interested, on Friday and Saturday. Brawl Stars teams of three players will compete in a single-elimination format, with two teams advancing to the finals from each qualifier. To make things more dramatic, the finals will also be held this Sunday, so don’t miss any of the action.

Our second main game for this week is eFootball, the football simulation that directly competes with EA FC. This season, we’ve decided to shuffle things around and offer even more football games to the fans, with two rounds of EA FC Mobile and the main EA FC event joined by eFootball. The eFootball Weekly will follow the same format as the EA FC weekly and have the same prize pool. This means that we’re heading towards two rounds of qualifiers, with the top four players from each round advancing. The best eight players will be combined into two groups of four for the second stage, with two out of each group advancing to the playoffs. The prize pool is also the same: €800 total, with €400 going to the winner. 

The weekend will be rounded up with the two-round qualifiers for the A1 SeC in League of Legends. Both qualifiers will have a single-elimination format, and the best two teams from each qualifier will compete in the playoffs next Thursday.

Interestingly, this is the first out of two “big weeks” for the season which will feature competitions in three games and two levels. Next week, apart from the playoffs in eFootball and League of Legends, we’re finally kicking off CS2 qualifiers which are bound to be more than interesting. 

Make sure to follow the action over the weekend! 

How much can you earn by playing in A1 Adria League Weekly?

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We know –  everyone reading this does not think about money when playing competitive esports and A1 Adria League, and your primary motivation is to win just for the sake of winning, right? Still, there’s more going on than simply having us shake your hand and say you are great. Every year, we’re trying hard to improve the prize money so teams and players are better rewarded for their efforts in the League.

This year, the total prize pool will be over €40,000, where the Weekly cups will be €10,550, and an additional €3,150 will go to the best teams in the A1 Student eChallenge. The applications are open to anyone interested! 

The prize pool allocation depends on several factors, the most notable being whether the winner is a single player or a team. This is why team sports prizes, such as League of Legends, Brawl Stars, and PUBG, are larger than EA FC Mobile and EA FC prizes. Let’s dissect the prize pools further for each game according to the number of players participating. 

CS2

The most lucrative tournament to win this year is, as always, Counter-Strike. For the weekly cups, we’ve allocated a total of €3,000 in prize money, which translates to €300 per player in the winning team. The second-place team gets €1,000, and the third-place team will earn €500, or €100 per player. 

League of Legends and PUBG

For LoL and PUBG, we allocated €1,500 for each game, meaning that the winners get €800, second-placed teams get €500, and the third-place team gets €200. It should be noted that PUBG is played in squads of four players, with one substitution player allowed. 

Brawl Stars

Brawl Stars is played in teams of three players, and the prize pool for the Weekly cups stands at €1,350, with €600 going to the winners, €450 to the second-placed team and €300 to the third-placed team. 

EA FC Mobile

EA’s mobile football simulator has proven to be a popular choice in the A1 Adria League. It’s the only title that will have two separate Weekly tournaments, one at the start of the Weekly tournaments and one at the very end. Both Weeklies will have the same prize pools, with €800 distributed to the top three players of both events. The winners will each get €400, the second-placed players will receive €250 each, and the third-place players will get €150. 

EA FC and eFootball

For the two “main” football simulators, both globally and in the A1 Adria League, we’ve kept the prize pools the same as with EA FC Mobile. This means that the winner in both eFootball and EA FC gets €400, second place will earn you €250 and finishing third is rewarded with €150. 

A1 Student eChallenge

For our student competition for Spring, € 3,150 will be awarded to the best teams and players in four games: CS2, Rocket League, League of Legends, and EA FC. 

CS2: €1,125 (1st place €500, 2nd place €375, 3rd place €250)

Rocket League: €675 (1st place €300, 2nd place €225, 3rd place €150)

EA SPORTS FC: €225 (1st place €100 2nd place €75, 3rd place €50)

League of Legends: €1,125 (1st place €500, 2nd place €375, 3rd place €250)

Applications are open for the Weekly cups, so pick your game and get ready for exciting tournaments across all the games! 

How to apply for the A1 Adria League Weekly cups

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Our last article described the main changes coming to the A1 Adria League this year, mostly tied to the Weekly tournaments and cups, which will replace the Spring season in 2025. The cups will take place throughout April, May, and June and will be exclusively available online.

The Weekly tournaments will take place in CS2, EA FC 25, EA FC Mobile, Brawl Stars, League of Legends, eFootball and PUBG.

To apply for the events, you must head to the Games section of the website, where you will find a list of all games for the season. From there, simply select the game you are interested in.

CS2

Tournament page

Platform: FACEIT

Open Qualifiers: 30.05.2025., 31.05.2025.,01.06.2025.

Playoffs: 06.06.2025., 07.06.2025., 08.06.2025.

CS2 will have three open qualifiers, and the winner of each qualifier will advance to the next stage, along with one directly invited team.

To apply, simply select the SIGN UP link next to the cup you would like to compete in, which will lead you to our official FACEIT tournament page. From there, you will be able to join the tournament, view the brackets and participants and read through the rules, but we are sure that seasoned CS2 players will be very familiar with the way FACEIT works.

 

EA SPORTS FC 25

Tournament page

Platform: Toornament

Open Qualifiers: 19.04.2025. and 20.04.2025.

Group Stage: 25.04.2025., and 26.04.2025.

Finals: 27.04.2025.

Similar to CS2, EA FC will have open qualifiers and playoffs. For EA FC, we have prepared two rounds of open qualifiers, and eight best players will advance to the playoffs from each of the qualifiers.

To apply for the EA FC tournaments, click the SIGN UP link which will lead you to the Toornament website. There, you should log into your Toornament account (or create a new one if you do not have it), which will allow you to connect to the platform and register for the qualifier.

 

EA FC Mobile

Tournament page

Platform: Discord

First Weekly open qualifiers: 11.04.2025, 12.04.2025.,13.04.2025.

First Weekly group stage: 18.04.2025 and 19.04.2025.

First Weekly playoffs: 20.04.2025.

Second Weekly open qualifiers: 05.06.2025., 06.06.2025., 07.06.2025.

Second Weekly group stage: 13.06.2025., and 14.06.2025.

Second Weekly playoffs: 15.06.2025.

EA FC Mobile will have two series of weekly tournaments, which will be the first and last tournaments we will host in Spring. There will be three open qualifiers for the first series, with the best eight players advancing to the playoffs.

Applications for the Weekly tournament is done via Discord. Clicking the SIGN UP link near a qualifier will lead you to our EA FC Mobile Discord channel, where admins will help with any preparation for the matches.

Brawl Stars

Tournament page

Platform: Toornament

Open Qualifiers: 16.05.2025 and 17.05.2025.

Playoffs: 18.05.2025.

Brawl Stars Weekly will take place over two qualifiers, and the best teams from each qualifier will advance to the group stage, and the four best group stage teams will advance to the double elimination bracket to crown the champion.

The Brawl Stars Weekly events are also handled through Toornament, which means that clicking the SIGN UP link will open the Toornament event page where you can apply for the tournament, provided that you already have a Toornament account – create one if you do not have it yet.

 

League of Legends

Tournament page

Platform: Challengermode

Open Qualifiers: 02.05.2025 and 03.05.2025.

Playoffs: 04.05.2025.

League of Legends Weekly tournaments will consist of two open qualifiers, followed by a group stage and a playoff round which will include four teams.

For League of Legends, Challengermode will be used. Interested players will be taken to the Challengermode page where all details about the tournament will be published, along with the ability to contact admins directly through the platform. Similar to FACEIT and Toornament, Challengermode will also provide an overview of brackets and other details about the matches.

 

eFootball

Tournament page

Platform: Toornament

Open Qualifiers: 17.5 and 18.5

Playoffs: 23.5 and 24.5

Finals: 25.5

The eFootball touranment will play out similarly to the Brawl Stars one, with two open qualifiers followed by a group stage and playoffs. Just like EA FC, eFootball’s biggest competitor, we’re using Toornament as our platform of choice, which means that the application process is the same as with EA FC, simply apply for a qualifier and the Toornament platform will handle everything else.

 

PUBG

Tournament page

Open Qualifiers: 05.05.2025., 06.05.2025.

Playoffs: 09.05.2025.,10.05.2025.,11.05.2025.

The PUBG Weekly tournaments will take place over two qualifiers, with two lobbies of 16 teams for each qualifier. The six best teams from each qualifier advance to the playoffs, together with four invited teams, for a total of 16 teams. Across three playoffs, the teams will compete for points across six maps in each playoff. The team with the most points – wins!

Announcing the A1 Adria League plans for 2025

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After a thrilling LAN final last November and the conclusion of the 14th season of your favourite regional esports league, we are back with more in 2025. This year, we’ve made several notable changes to the tournament structure to improve the overall experience, while not dialing down on the best parts that made the league one of the premier destinations for esports in the region since our first season back in 2017. Since then, many of our players went on to achieve great success globally, the prize pool has steadily increased, and so did the number of titles on offer. Today, we’re taking the next step.

What’s new?

The A1 Adria League had two seasons per calendar year for a long time. The year’s first season was smaller in scope and took place online, while the fall season concluded on the Reboot InfoGamer in November as a large LAN event. To streamline the year for players and teams and increase the league’s overall quality, we are happy to announce an evolution of the dual-season format, called the A1 Adria League Weekly. For players and teams, nothing grand will change: there will still be dozens of matches to be played during spring in several games and rewards to earn for both individuals and teams. The new format aims to build on our past experiences and successes while responding to the feedback of the players and the community and putting a greater focus on the LAN finals later in the year. The Weekly tournaments will still serve as proving grounds for the ‘big’ season later in the year, albeit with a new name and a slightly tweaked format.

We are also happy to continue investing in the A1 Adria League Student eChallenge (A1 SeC), our student-focused esports competition, which will be featured in both the spring and fall tournaments in 2025. The A1 SeC has been a staple of the League since its inception, and we’re incredibly happy to keep the student competitions through both the Weekly tournaments and the 15th season.

The total prize pool for the Weekly tournaments will be €13,700, with €10,550 divided between the best teams and players of the regular tournaments and €3,150 going to the A1 SeC.

We’re starting things off in early April, and the weekly events will last until mid-June.

What games will be played?

While shuffling things around, we’re sticking to some known favourites for the Weekly tournaments. For the Weekly tournaments, players will compete in EA SPORTS FC Mobile (EA FC Mobile) as well as the regular EA SPORTS FC (EA FC), League of Legends, PUBG: Battlegrounds, Brawl Stars, eFootball: PES and Counter-Strike 2. The selection of games reflects our interest for mobile, PC and console players and aims to provide a good balance between global super hits such as CS2 and LoL and regional favourites EA FC and Brawl Stars.

What about Season 15?

We’re working hard to enhance and improve the overall experience for everyone involved for our milestone season 15, which will still keep the long-standing format we are all familiar with, together with dozens of hours of air time, some of the region’s best players, panel discussions, interviews and audience activities. More of everything is coming our way. We aim to tweak the format once again according to the information we received from both viewers and teams. Still, you can expect the season to feature fan-favourites EA FC and CS2, as well as other games, and we are happy to announce that the LAN finals will take place during the Reboot InfoGamer in November. We’ll share further details and enhancements for the 15th season as it approaches – but it will certainly be bigger and better than any before it.

Looking ahead, we invite everyone to apply for the Weekly tournaments in the mentioned games, and wish everyone the best of luck in the initial competitions!