India qualified for the pinnacle event, the FIFAe Nations Cup for the second consecutive season. Photo: Twitter/@indianfootball
India qualified for the FIFAe Nations Cup for the second consecutive season on May 19. The tournament is considered the pinnacle FIFA esports event among the Member Associations of world football’s governing body. India participated in the FIFAe Nations Series for the first time in 2021, and did well enough to qualify twice in three years for the tournament, known as the ‘World Cup of FIFA esports’.
India were knocked out in the group stage of the FIFAe Nations Cup 2022 held in Denmark in July 2022. The eTigers will look to improve their record this time among the 24 nations, which will qualify for the FIFAe Nations Cup 2023.
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Apart from India, three other countries — Australia, Malaysia and Singapore have qualified from the Asia and Oceania region for the final event. They will join 11 teams from Europe, three from the Middle East and Africa, three from South America and two from North and Central America along with the host nation, which has yet to be announced.
India began their FIFAe Nations Series 2023 journey in December 2022, at the Play-Ins stage and played the Online Qualifiers Main Stage in April before qualifying for the Playoffs. At the Playoffs stage, represented by #eTigers Charanjot Singh, Saransh Jain, Siddh Chandarana and Saksham Rattan, they lost in the first round of the double elimination bracket by an aggregate score of 2-3 to Indonesia in a close encounter but fought back to back-to-back victories against New Zealand (0-9 on aggregate) and Japan (1-2 on aggregate) thanks to an injury-time goal to seal their place at the FIFAe Nations Cup 2023. Charanjot Singh, the captain of
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Indian team, said: “It feels amazing to make the FIFAe Nations Cup for the second time in a row. I am proud of the way everyone performed. The hard work has paid off for us, finally. We have trained hard to achieve this and now it’s time to be better and work harder for the off-line event”.
