AIFF Media Team
NEW DELHI: India will be a part of the FIFAe Nations Series 2022 (FeNS22), the flagship competitive gaming series of FIFA for its Member Associations. The tournament will be contested by FIFAe National Teams. India, currently ranked 23 out of 60 in the FIFAe Nations Ranking, will contest from the Asia and Oceania server region. The team will look to pick things up where they left off in the previous season, as they narrowly missed out on a chance to qualify for the 2021 play-offs.
India will start their campaign at the qualifying stages of the tournament. The FIFAe Nations Online Qualifiers 2022 Play In stage will be starting from December 2021, wherein the team, over a period of four competition weeks extending until April 2022, will compete with FIFAe National Squads from Member Associations that participated in FeNS21, for qualification to the FIFAe Nations Playoffs 2022.
If unable to qualify through the Play-ins, India will get another chance for qualification through the FIFAe Nations Online Qualifier 2022 Main Stage. At this stage, the team will compete against newly on-boarded Member Associations for FeNS22 and other returning Member Associations from FeNS21 for a spot in the Playoffs.
The FIFAe Nations Playoffs 2022 is expected to take place in June 2022, and the pinnacle event - the FIFAe Nations Cup 2022, is expected to be hosted in July 2022. A total of 23 National Squads qualifying from the Playoffs joined by the Host Nation will take part in the FIFAe Nations Cup 2022.
As part of the FeNS22, the FIFAe National Squad will also play FIFAe Friendly Events against other participating Member Associations in the server region. The friendlies will be taking place during the course of the 2022 season.
Meanwhile, the AIFF will host the second edition of its National Qualifying Event - AIFF eFootball Challenge to select gamer Athletes to its FIFAe National Squad for the 2022 season. The event will be organised in an extended timeframe this season. More details about the tournament structure and its timeline will be shared soon.