December 15–16 marks the start of the FIFAe Nations Series 2023. In the annual competitions in the FIFA discipline, which determine participants for the FIFAe Nations Cup e-sports championship, the Ukrainian national team will traditionally take part.

We tell you what this year's campaign of the world's top electronic football competition will be like and what awaits the Ukrainian team in prestigious virtual tournaments.

FIFAe Nations Series 2023

The FIFAe Nations Series 2023 takes place in the "2 on 2" mode of FIFA 23 on the PlayStation 5 platform.

The competition consists of four stages: a first qualifying (play-in) round, a second qualifying (main) round, playoffs, and the final stage of the world championship.

Play-in will run from December 15 to March 3, the main qualification round will take place in April, and the playoffs will be held in May 2023. The tentative period for holding the FIFAe Nations Cup 2023 is summer of next year.

Play-in

In the play-in round of the world's top competition, 40 national teams from Europe will participate.

The play-in consists of four conferences with two divisions each, containing five teams. During the first qualifying round, teams will compete over three game weeks — December 15–16, January 26–27 and February 2–3.

After each game week, a sports promotion and relegation system will be applied: the two best teams from lower divisions will move up to higher divisions in their conferences, while the two worst teams from higher divisions will drop down. The results of each day after this procedure are nullified.

After three game weeks, a ranking table with all participating teams will be formed.

The top two strongest teams in each conference (eight in total) will receive direct passes to the playoff round. Teams that do not advance to the playoffs will have another chance — already in the main qualification round.

What awaits the Ukrainian team

The Ukrainian team at these competitions is represented by four cyber football players who became winners of the national selection: Oleksandr CIG Grishay Gryshai and Andriy CIG ST92 Shakalov (main squad), Denis ECF_Phoenix Yevtushyk and Yaroslav ECF_BlackStar98x Gurmak (reserve squad).

Based on the draw results for the play-in round, the Ukrainian team has been placed in Conference 3 and will start its tournament path from Division 2. During the initial game week, blue-and-yellow teams will face Switzerland, Belgium, Greece, and Georgia.

Matches will be played in a round-robin format with BO1 (best of one), so during each game week, the Ukrainian team will play eight matches (two against each opponent). For wins in play-in games, three points will be awarded, for draws — one point, and for losses — zero points.

On December 15–16, Oleksandr CIG Grishay Gryshai and Andriy CIG ST92 Shakalov will represent the Ukrainian team as the main duo of cyber football players.

If Ukrainian players finish in the top-2 of their division, they will already be among the best teams of the conference next January and will compete for a spot in the FIFAe Nations Series 2023 playoffs.

Where to watch matches of the Ukrainian team

All matches of the national team in electronic football on their way to the FIFAe Nations Cup 2023 will be shown live by the YouTube channel of the Ukrainian Football Association.