The Union française des clubs d'esport professionnels (UFCEP),
announced on Saturday, February 7, that it has applied to become France’s national partner for the
Esports Nations Cup, which will take place next November in Saudi Arabia. Since January, the Esports World Cup Foundation has launched the recruitment of national partners for all 206 countries and territories authorized to take part in its nation-based competition. The UFCEP notably brings together
Team Vitality, Karmine Corp, Mandatory, Joblife, Shifters, and Solary.
As a result, more than 600 applications from 152 countries have been received by the EWCF, including one for France, as well as applications co-organized by Fnatic for the United Kingdom, OverActive Media in Canada, and
a large alliance of clubs in Brazil. Of course,
not all of these applications have been validated yet. A final decision is expected by the end of February to determine whether they will officially represent their respective countries, even if groupings around such major names already appear to be strong favorites.
Supported by the Presidency of the French Republic
For France, UFCEP has teamed up with a new group formed by Bertrand Amar and Matthieu Dallon, the former head of esports at Webedia and founding partner of Trust Esport Capital, respectively. The latter is known for having invested in Prodigy Agency, the Toornament platform, and EVA virtual reality venues. In a second post on LinkedIn, Matthieu Dallon also explained that this application was "supported by the Presidency of the French Republic."
To handle the managerial side, this newly formed alliance announced it would rely on Matthieu Péché, a French rower who won an Olympic medal at the 2016 Games and is a multiple world and European champion. In addition to this sporting background, he has also worked with Team Vitality, where he notably held the role of manager for the Counter-Strike team.
His role, likely in coordination with the alliance mentioned above, will first be to appoint coaches and selectors for the 16 games that will be played in Saudi Arabia, such as
CS2, the most recently announced title, as well as chess,
Trackmania, and
VALORANT, which
Sheep Esports recently revealed. At the same time, work will need to be done on the players and lineups that will be selected, as Matthieu Péché, like the other managers, will only have until the end of April to finalize the teams. Even though the competition itself will not begin for more than six months, the
EWCF has set April 26 as the deadline to submit player rosters.
"Representing France at the Esports Nations Cup is my dream"
It is also important to note that for team-based games, participating countries will be required to field lineups made up of players from different clubs. For Counter-Strike 2, while awaiting further details for Honor of Kings, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, or Dota 2, national lineups may include no more than three players out of five from the same club.
It should also be noted that several players in France have already publicly expressed their desire to take part and compete under the tricolor flag. As such, Franco-Belgian jungler Ismaïl “Isma” Boualem explained in an interview
with Sheep Esports that “
I would play for France because I prefer, let’s say, France.” More recently, Paul “Stend” Lardin said in an interview with us, "
if there’s ever a Nations Cup, it would really be a dream to participate".
