The 8th season of eLigue 1 2024 football will be played until April 29, with 13 teams

Video game news with our consultant, Laure Valée and Benjamin Fontaine for an esports meeting dedicated to the new edition of eLigue 1. An important issue for football clubs who wish to benefit from other visibility.

Not everyone knows it, but Ligue1 is also played with controllers. There is an eLigue 1 championship and after six days of matches, we are right in the middle of the season.

franceinfo: Let us first clarify, Laure Valée, that there are many fewer teams in this championship?

Laure Valée: That’s it, the eLigue 1 returned for its eighth edition, it started on January 9 and the finals will take place on April 29. There are 13 teams and for the format, there is a group stage for the moment which is played in the best of three rounds. And the playoffs which will be single elimination will also be played in the best of three rounds.

These are clubs that we know from traditional football. Except that it depends on the investments that these clubs wanted to make, and that’s why we only find 13 teams.

And we can cite PSG, Lyon, Nantes, Monaco, but then the eLigue 1 ranking has nothing to do with that of the Ligue 1 that we know?

So it’s definitely a completely different competition. And the ranking could make some people laugh, since here it is Olympique Lyonnais which finds itself at the top of eLigue 1. For the moment, precisely halfway through the competition, PSG and Olympique from Marseille find themselves fourth and fifth respectively. It’s the Troyes team that brings up the rear.

And at the helm of this electronic eLigue 1 which is played on PlayStation, no Mbappé, no Lacazette or Aubameyang?

It is certain that, since these are players who play FIFA, we have an esports player who will control an entire team. And since it’s a French competition, there are obviously a lot of French players, quite a few Italian players and Spanish players.

And obviously, what’s funny above all is that there are players who have been around for quite a few years. I think it is important for football clubs to be included in this electronic league, in any case, those who wish to have another form of visibility, to have an eSport section.

It’s a phenomenon that we started to see from 2017 with PSG, which was one of the first teams, one of the first football clubs to lead the way. And we see today, the clubs continue to organize themselves. We have the Strasbourg club this week which announced the formation of its academy, therefore to train new talents. So there is a desire on the part of football clubs through the eSport section, to promote another form of discipline to the point of wanting to unearth the youngest talents.

And you can follow the matches of this eLigue 1, on the dedicated Twitch channel. It’s free. The resumption is February 27.