NODWIN Announces $100,000 Mixed Gender eISL FIFA Event

South Asian esports company NODWIN Gaming and Indian sports organization Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) have partnered to announce eISL in collaboration with EA Sports. This will make the Indian Super League (ISL) the first major sports league in the region to break into esports. EA Sports is video game developer for titles like FIFA, NBA, NFL and more.

The objective of this venture is to offer an engaging gaming platform for growing football fans as well as gaming fans. Female esports athletes will be given equal opportunities to compete at the upcoming event with each of the 11 teams featuring one male and one female player. The first eISL event will kick off on 20th Nov 2021 with four months of action scheduled up until 20th March 2022. The event is set to feature a prize pool of INR 78,00,000 ($103,750).

Female esports players will be given equal opportunity at eISL 2021-22

The first edition of the eISL event will feature all 11 ISL clubs participating in the event. Over a hundred matches will be played across four months from November to March and the event will be considered as an official qualifying event for the FIFA 2022 Global Series (FGS).

All aspiring FIFA 2022 esports enthusiasts in India will be able to compete in a total of 12 qualifiers which will be held for all 11 ISL clubs. 11 qualifiers will be held for the 11 teams with only one player making it into each ISL club's team.

A 12th qualifier will be held which will be open to female players only and another 11 players will qualify for the 11 teams. Each team will end up with one male and one female player. The event is designed in a way to promote gender diversity in esports.

Bigger sponsors and organizations are stepping up to promote gender diversity in esports. Most entities look down upon the women’s esports scene due to them not perceiving the industry as lucrative, but that perception is slowly changing with events like eISL and Valorant Champions Tour Game Changers.

Unlike traditional sports where men may have an unfair advantage due to biological differences that contribute to higher strength, esports puts everyone on even ground and there is no reason why a female esports star should not be able to compete at the highest level with male players if provided the right environment, opportunities and training.

The order of the qualifiers will be based on the ISL 2020-2021 standings, and once all teams are locked in place the regular season will commence. During the regular season, clubs will play round robin games with a leaderboard determining the top four teams that will head to the grand finals. The four finalist teams will be competing in a double elimination format to determine the winner of the first eISL season.

NODWIN Gaming seeks to host the main event in a LAN environment and it is working on establishing all necessary safety measures in Gurugram, Haryana. Mr. Akshat Rathee, MD & Co-Founder, NODWIN Gaming said in the official announcement “NODWIN Gaming along with Indian Super League and EA SPORTSTM aims to select the best FIFA players through EA SPORTSTM FIFA Global Series India Qualifiers. The strong equity of ISL in India, coupled with the vibrancy of FIFA 22 is sure to spark the intrigue of viewers and players alike.”

The first qualifiers will kick off on 1^st November 2021 and players can sign up for the qualifiers by signing up via ESL Play. The event will take place on PlayStation and players are required to be 16 years or older to participate.

Disclosure: Nodwin Gaming is an investor in and a client of AFK Gaming.