Israel has been pegged to host the 13th annual International Esports Federation World Championships (IESF), the first time the country has been chosen to do so. Israel was originally slated to host the tournament last year, but that was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic which forced the IESF event to take place solely online.
“It is amazing that we finally reached this point in time where we can show Israeli hospitality to the world,” said Ido Brosh, Head of the Israel Esports Association. “Gamers from 71 countries all over the world are coming to Eilat. I’m super happy and excited about it and I hope we enjoy it…For me, as head of the IESA, it is very important, and I’m very proud of it so far. We’re showing Israel not to people who love or hate us, but to people who don’t know enough about us, and we’re hitting them in the right place.”
This nation-based focus of the IESF world championships is something that makes it different from other major esports competitions and tournaments around the world. Rather than consisting of participating clubs and teams, the world championships instead use national teams, with individual countries sending individuals through their representative organizations within the IESF. This makes it similar to the FIFA World Cup, and just like the World Cup, not everyone can attend. Rather, qualifier events are held around the world to narrow down the contestants.
The gamers compete with each other in a few different titles, this time being Dota 2, Tekken 7, considered one of the most popular competitive esport titles in Israel, Counter Strike: GO (CS:GO), and eFootball 2022, a soccer game that is the most recent title and a full rebrand of the previous soccer game of choice for the competition, Pro Evolution Soccer. In addition, one other game will also be featured: Titled Audition, a Korean-made dancing and rhythm game that is not as popular in the West as the other titles. As such, it will be an exhibition game, not one of the main competitive titles.
(All information was provided by The Jerusalem Post)
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