Your pitch for every home game

Background

In mid-March all football was suspended in Germany. DFB, The German Football Association, representing the lower tiers of football from the third division down, wanted to keep the spirit of the game alive.

Idea

DFB launched a new virtual football platform, www.dfb-efootball.de, a home for both hobby gamers and professional esports players where they could find new players and new opponents to challenge.

A major tournament on April 23rd allowed players at home to compete to play against top soccer stars and influencers like FIFA World Cup winner Mohammed ‘MoAuba’ Harkous. The entire German national Esports team were participants in the ‘Home Series’ which was livestreamed on DFB’s website as well as on YouTube and twitch.

Results

The charity tournament was a huge success. Four teams, four captains, and more than 50,000 Euros raised for charity. In one of the semi-finals, rapper Pillath scored the opening goal before disappearing at half- time due to a faulty connection.

Our Thoughts

There are many examples of how coronavirus has forced radical change on organisations, probably to their betterment. This is one of them. Football inspires singular passions both online and offine and the professional game has been slow to appreciate this. Not any longer. This new platform may owe its birth to the crisis but it will long outlast it.