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National body Esports Wales has today announced the Wales Masters, a 16-team ‘phygital’ tournament taking place at Gôl Football Centres in Newport, Wales, on January 26th 2025.
The event is billed as ‘the UK’s first-ever ‘phygital’ tournament’ playing out across two stages. Teams begin their matches with the digital component, which will be played on EA Sports FC 25, before play transitions to the physical pitch with five-a-side games of football.
The team who tallies the most goals across both segments will win and progress further in the tournament, with real-life penalties acting as a tie-breaker if necessary.
Welsh Masters Phygital Football will sport a £750 prize pool, with £500 going to the winning team and the runners-up taking home £250. The victors may also qualify for Games of the Future 2025, a phygital event kicking off on November 21st 2025 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The tournament will employ a GSL, double-elimination group stage, with the 16 teams being spread out across four equally-sized groups. The winners and runners-up of each group will advance to the quarter-finals, which coincides with play transitioning into a single-elimination bracket for the remainder of the event.
“At Esports Wales, we are always exploring new and exciting ideas, and can’t wait to run the first Phygital tournament in Wales,” said Esports Wales CEO John Jackson. “Phygital is continuing the development and blend between esports and traditional sport.
“Running physical sporting competitions isn’t really something Esports Wales plans to do, but this is a great opportunity to connect with national sporting federations.”
John Jackson, Esports Wales
“Who knows what’s around the corner? Phygital Basketball, Phygital Dancing, Phygital Hockey, Phygital Fighting and more.”
The non-profit organisation World Phygital Community (WPC), which has members hailing from countries such as the United States, China, and India, currently recognises four ranked disciplines (football, basketball, shooter, dancing) and six unranked disciplines (fighting, racing, hockey, BMX, skateboarding, cycling).
Update: Here are some photos following the event, which also featured members of UK League of Legends team Brod n Friends:
More information regarding the event, including the rulebook and sign-up page, can be found on Esports Wales’ website here.
Recent Welsh esports news:
- GCS Owls soar in Welsh Cup Finals for schools and colleges
- Merthyr Tydfil College calls for greater esports diversity
- Esports Wales launches Agored Cymru Award in Esports Leadership course
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
