On July 9, the European Esports Federation will elect a new president.
Among the front-runners is Denys Davydov, founder of the Ukrainian esports organization Boars Gaming and head of the Esports Commission of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine. In a conversation with Players, he shares his vision for the development of European esports, the key points of his program, and how he plans to transform the federation.
Denys, the presidential election of the European Esports Federation is on July 9, and you are one of the candidates. The first question that comes to mind is — why do you want this? What is your motivation?
In recent years, I have gained enough expertise to realize that I can contribute more as the president than as a club or league manager within the European Esports Federation. I’ve come to understand that while the current path of esports is impressive and powerful, it lacks the structural foundation that I once experienced in traditional sports.
That is, in rugby, football, and badminton. This is precisely what esports is missing. And since I know how that structure is built, I can complement and develop it to a level that could potentially elevate this sport to the highest level in Europe.
What program are you running with in this election? What are you focusing on? Is it about development — in depth, in breadth, or across all possible vectors? What are the main points of your platform?
The first key point is the creation of a pyramid-like structure, because today in esports we have an inverted pyramid. There are a lot of professional clubs at the top, but very little systemic development at the grassroots level.
And that’s crucial. Because when a child enters esports — or sports in general — they need to understand how they can grow further. Not just from a professional perspective, but also in terms of receiving that initial push from the state, the way all of us got it from traditional sports.
That was the foundation of my program. Esports must be elevated to the level of national teams, and national teams should not just be about online tournaments — they should participate in offline competitions. I believe that in order for the system to function and for esports to become truly interesting to governments, we need to rethink the national tournament structure.
So, taking inspiration from traditional sports, I decided that we need to shape esports so that each national team is formed based on a few specific titles — five or six, no more. And from these games, we build a national team. Then we create groups, and that national team should travel offline to compete against another team. This enables us to launch what I call “bridges” — bridges for business, for local governance, and much more.
We need to build this. And to do so, we’ve identified a critical issue: today, many countries have very few coaches and very few managers. That’s why the second point of our program — since I’m running together with a Portuguese figure who is a former president of the European Esports Federation — is education.
We’re saying that we’ll launch the European Championship in a year, but for that to happen, education must come first. Whether it’s a European Cup or a European Championship — that’s the big star, the goal we’re heading towards. But to get there, we must first create a talent hub for managers and a talent hub for coaches.
The third point is the education of managers within the federation itself. Meaning: how to run a federation, what needs to be done, how to attract people — and all those related tasks.
You're saying you’re taking traditional sports tournaments as a model. Are you referring to specific tournaments, or more generally to tournament systems that are more or less the same?
Let’s take, for example — you and I, Maksym, have been involved in different sports — but if we look at the ones currently most visible, like football or basketball, we can see that all sports are built on the same basic principles.
The qualification stages for the European Championships are one of the pinnacles of these sports — at least from the perspective of amateur sport. We're not talking about professional elite levels here, but about amateur sport that allows players to showcase their best qualities.
National teams are usually the tip of the iceberg. A national team is either the peak or one of the peaks of a player’s career — and only the best make it there. But the best are chosen from a broad grassroots base.
So what do you do as president? This is where we draw from the history of how major sports were built — football, for example. Many people played football, but it only truly became "football" after the first World Cup. Once the first World Cup was held in Uruguay, football got its major push. And from that point, we began to see football not just as a game, but as a system. You see? You need a "star" — something aspirational — that can gather people at the grassroots level who believe they can reach that star. So this path must be created.
But this operates at the national level. And that’s the path the federation must walk. Once we launch that system, it will be much easier to organize tournaments for schoolchildren and students.
These are part of our program. But we’re talking about what should come first, second, third, and so on — step by step.
So this is the very pyramid you mentioned at the beginning?
Yes. What we're saying is that we need to establish the structure of that pyramid. When you build a pyramid, of course, you start with the foundation. But if we look at it in basic terms — the foundation already exists.
It’s just that right now, it’s upside down, you see?
Why did this happen? Is it because esports is still a relatively new phenomenon?
Partly, yes — because it’s relatively new. But also because the people who came into esports understood the event industry. If we look at esports shows, they’re probably some of the coolest events in human history. You know, they’re simple, inexpensive, incredibly engaging, and visually striking.
And the people who built this came mostly from computer clubs, not from training fields. So everything developed like a business. And as a business, that structure already exists and doesn’t really need anything else.
But when we talk about the federation — the federation is not about business. The federation’s role is about mass participation.
And this is where we say: in order to achieve mass participation, we need to clearly state that this is the path we're taking now. And that we will stick to it. Every two years, we will hold a European Championship. We will run qualifiers.
And once we’ve established a major European Championship for adults, we’ll follow that up with U-19 competitions — just like in traditional sports systems.
So, essentially, you want to change the system?
Rather, create it.
To create it — and like anything new, you’ll likely face some resistance from those same event managers you mentioned, the ones currently in control?
Right now, they’re already trying to figure out how to keep me out. For instance, one of the candidates running against me is 59 years old. He’s a former Secretary General of the Polish Olympic Committee — a person who has absolutely no understanding of esports.
A bureaucrat, right?
A pure bureaucrat. Although, to be fair, I should mention that he’s also a bronze and silver Olympic medalist in fencing. He was an athlete — and that counts for something. But yes, he’s been deeply involved in bureaucratic administrative work for a very long time.
Who is your team? How will you form it while in office? Do you already have it ready? How did these people even join your team?
Well, the first important step was to find a Secretary General. I found him in Portugal. His name is Tiago Fernandes. He is the former President of the European Esports Federation. Things didn’t quite work out for him in that role, as he didn’t have global support and probably went slightly in the wrong direction, but he’s very strong in terms of understanding how the system works, how the federations function now, and he knows all their flaws and problems. So, I selected him as the Secretary General.
I chose a lawyer from Ukraine because I need to trust these people. I’ll present him separately, but I can tell you that he’s a very capable lawyer who has worked with betting, gaming, and other related fields. So he also understands how the system works.
For marketing, I see two directions. The first one is Iryna Barysheva, the owner of the Boars Gaming esports club, because to this day she has shown us a very strong marketing case — when our national team became known worldwide. You recently did an interview with her, and from that interview, we know how our "little boars" became recognized all over the world.
Right now, we are selecting the person who will be responsible for tournaments. I have some ideas — there is a Bulgarian team. They’ve been organizing tournaments for the Bulgarian federation, the Moldovan federation, and others for 15 years. They are part of the Bulgarian Esports Federation. They’re just slightly lacking that boost from state support.
And I went to France and spoke with Karmine Corp in terms of education. There’s a major club in France, and their shows always gather 20-25 thousand people. When I came to them and asked how they operate, they told me, "We just work very hard — using the football model with fans." And I thought, "Oh, look, that means I’m on the right path," you see? So I’m bringing the football, basketball, and rugby model into a place where major esports clubs have already realized it’s needed.
Next, we’ll be looking for the head of the sponsorship department. And we have one more asset — another Portuguese specialist who works with EU programs and attracting funding from various funds.
So, that’s how the team is being formed. Meaning, there won’t be too many Ukrainians on this team.
Well, this international nature of your team will allow you to open doors in many European countries.
For example, I spoke with Finland — there’s a very strong woman there who works on inclusion, protecting women from harassment, and also protecting men from harassment, as well as addressing gender equality issues among athletes. Because in esports, this is very important.
It’s actually a very toxic environment. So I spoke with her — if she agrees to join us, it would be a huge boost for us because she does this professionally.
I also want to involve another woman from the Spanish federation, who handles tournament organization and event management at tournaments. She is currently working actively with ESL and could really strengthen our team. But she currently has a contract, so perhaps she’ll only be able to help us as an external expert.
What you said about national team tournaments — about your plans to organize them — it’s not just some theoretical talk in your case, let’s put it that way. Like something that might happen someday in the future. Recently, there was information that this year the IESF Esports World Championship could take place in Lviv. That information came out and then kind of faded away. Can you tell us at what stage this idea currently is?
As a country, we were granted the right to host this championship. Yes, we did it — I secured this right from the board of the International Esports Federation (IESF).
However, we live in a country that has been attacked and on whose territory the largest war on the continent in the past 80 years is taking place. Understandably, this imposes clear limitations on hosting the event. Teams are concerned about safety, spectators are concerned about safety, and sponsors are concerned about safety.
In addition, the time frame required to organize the event is too short to host a truly high-quality and large-scale tournament that would match the status of a World Championship.
Therefore, when we calculated everything, we realized — it should not be done now. I proposed to the International Esports Federation that we are ready to host the General Congress this year, so that all members of the international federation, presidents, could see Lviv. We are ready to show Lviv, we are ready to host it here. To demonstrate the foundation we have to hold a conference involving countries, ministries, on topics such as how esports can be recognized as a national and Olympic sport. But we have not yet received a response, likely because the office of the World Esports Federation in Macedonia did not like the idea.
As for the World Championship itself — it’s not going anywhere. We plan to host it next year and begin preparations for the tournament now.
The issue of security in this regard — I understand it was indeed important, but it was not the key factor.
The main issue was the unpreparedness of the marketing department of the International Esports Federation, because they are unable to provide us with the mechanisms that, for example, exist in football.
Hosting a championship in a makeshift way — that’s not our path. We would like the whole world to hear about this championship, and for Ukraine, as always, to show that we put on an incredible show.
But that’s not possible under these circumstances, and they took a long time to decide whether they could even grant us the host status. They set a condition for us: you pay the licensing fee, and then we will tell you that you are the host. And just for the record — the licensing fee alone is one million euros.
And we almost gave them the money. But when we said, “Here’s the money — maybe we could outline how it will be spent,” they responded, “Well, listen, that’s not your concern. You pay the licensing fee, and we’ll take it from there.” But we are not satisfied with that.
What’s more, this year the General Assembly is supposed to elect a new president of the federation. And most likely, it will. So who will be responsible for that one million? Me?
So, as of today, June 2025, we are saying that the World Championship in Lviv most likely won’t happen this year, right?
Yes, yes, most likely, that’s right.
Maybe something will happen — you know, we live in Ukraine, there’s always something going on. Someone once thought it would take three days, and it’s already been three years.
What is the most important thing in your aspiration to become president of the EEF?
The most important reason why I’m going for it — this sport can truly become sport number one. It can surpass any other kind of sport. Especially if we change the current paradigm, where this sport is seen as something associated with overweight and dissatisfied people. This sport can provide self-realization for people from all walks of life, it can provide opportunities for children, and it can become a new driver of a healthy lifestyle.
If esports athletes begin to resemble traditional athletes — but without what we see in conventional sports. That is, not broken athletes, not people crushed by the system just to achieve a goal. Because we both know that most professional athletes are, frankly, very sick people.
Whereas this type of sport can help a person be both healthy and self-fulfilled, you know? If a child takes up esports as a sport, it will give them the same sense of community, the same challenges that traditional sports provide.
But if they don’t succeed, for example, they’ll still gain skills that in traditional sports could take decades to acquire. They’ll develop their brain, their reaction time, their communication skills, and leadership qualities. And if it doesn’t work out, they’ll just go live their life and work.
And we both know — you can train for 10–20 years in football or basketball, and in the end they’ll say to you, “Sorry, you’re not the right fit.”
But that’s a stereotype — that esports is, at best, just entertainment, and at worst, actually harmful to your health.
Well, we have a three-time champion of Ukraine and two-time World Championship participant — Vitalii Lytvynov. He can show everyone what a real esports athlete looks like. He’s a healthy, strong guy who trains in boxing every day and trains in eFootball every day. And that doesn’t stop him from being the best in Ukraine. And one of the best in Europe, you see?
So, it all depends on how this sport is presented, right? We say — okay, basketball is presented as, or football is presented as a sport for health, right? But it's not really a sport for health. Now imagine if esports could be combined in a very simple way with physical activity... That’s why physical activity is necessary. Because if you exercise, your brain develops better, it works faster. That’s powerful and something you really need, right?
But we need to keep talking about it. And why? Because we need to build a system where people rise to that podium, and those people look the way we would want them to look. I mean, football also started out as a pastime for sailors and soldiers — it came out of India, where they used to play with a human head, you know?
And if you look at the Counter-Strike pro scene today, you can already see how much it has changed in terms of physical representation. They’ve started wearing Gucci, they’ve started going to the gym, swimming, taking care of their health — mental health, psychology, everything.
Especially, I want to point out — and this needs to be added — that Iryna Serhiivna [Barysheva] is currently working on improving the psychological support system for players.
Iryna is going to be doing this professionally. She enjoys it, and I believe she could even start a new school of thought. Because sometimes she has these fascinating ideas — like when she talks about understanding a person’s character through how they interact with the in-game character they choose.
Yes, she briefly mentioned that in her interview.
Yes, yes, and I support her in that. Iryna strongly believes this could be a new stage of development, even in real life. Because we’re used to working a certain way. When I was an athlete, we know how things worked — everything was the same, and everyone was told to go dig, you know? “You all must.” Why? “Because you must.”
But now, results are achieved precisely through this aspect — psychological work and the emergence of new schools of psychology. And that can help with marketing, it can help with everything.
Let’s say a child comes to you and needs to choose what to do. You have a child, I have a child — and most likely, your child also knows what Brawl Stars is.
Not yet. She knows Minecraft.
Well, Minecraft — let’s take Minecraft then. There are competitions in Minecraft now too, you know that. And she knows what Minecraft is. And here’s the thing — she knows more about Minecraft than she knows about who invented basketball, right?
So if you tell her, “Look, to develop in esports, you need to be athletic, you need to study well.” Why study? Because esports is about math, right? About logic and solving systems. It’s for the brain. Right? You see? Thank you. And that could give her motivation to get involved, to grow and develop.
If I think about one of the best movies that helped me — and I later reflected on it as a coach, as a manager — it was the movie Coach Carter. Remember what he said? That the most important thing for a basketball player is mental activity?
Well yes, of course — they say basketball is like chess.
Now imagine that this game of chess is transferred to the court. And you’ve seen how electronic basketball is played — you’ve even commentated on it, right? And you’ve seen that it’s not the same game, of course, as the one you watch live, but it has structure, they understand the game. And this kind of game, for example, can even help real basketball players see the game differently — from the outside, as they say, not just through their own eyes.
And that can help you see the game in a different way. It gives you a different perspective, you know? And that can add something — to you, to me, to the kids — it can bring new experiences. Because esports doesn’t just solve problems within sport itself. If we look at the situation today — PSG, Barcelona, Real Madrid — they all have their own esports divisions. And now they’re looking to integrate esports with traditional sports.
I can tell you — in five years, esports athletes won’t be any different from football players. Because their level of fame is growing, and their fitness is on par, you see? The only difference is — those get injured, and these don’t.
Sounds like a plan.
You know, big esports clubs today are adding swimming, adding physical training. I was recently at Karmine Corp — they have TRX equipment downstairs, a ping-pong table, and it’s not a box of McDonald's sitting there. They’ve got apples, bananas, oranges, water — in other words, they’ve got healthy food. Because they’ve already understood that a strong player is one who thinks fast, and to think fast, you need physical activity. You need to be healthy.
I can tell you — this is the future. And yes, I’m working toward bringing what we have today in big sports or in traditional esports into the esports world. Because I know how to do it. Because I built it. I built teams. I organized championships. I hosted European championships. I helped organize football matches. I learned, as they say, from the best systems for organizing competitions.
And on the other side, I personally organized a football championship where, for the first time, we combined real football and efootball. And you saw how many efootball players who came to us in Kryvyi Rih were happy to go out and play on a real pitch.
So esports can help athletes get a new profession — because we both know how physically damaging real sports can be.
Esports opens up opportunities. And we must help make that happen — because we know how to do it, and we know how to do it right.