Denys Davydov, Esports Manager of the Ukrainian Association of Football, gave an interview to Players. He spoke about the UAF’s plans for the development of electronic football and the creation of the Ukraine national Rocket League team.
Why did the UAF decide to actively enter esports right now?
First of all, the UAF did not decide to actively enter esports right now, because the UAF has had eFootball since 2020. We have been actively developing esports, specifically in the area of eFootball. So this is not the first step for the UAF. And if we talk about today, why right now? Because in 2025 FIFA included three esports games in its statutes. That is, they recognized them at the same level as football.
First, it is eFootball and eFootball Mobile. We will not separate them — it is one game.
Next, they included Rocket League and Football Manager. So these games, based on the FIFA statutes, are now part of football. Therefore, every federation can now develop them as a sport.
Because if we look at the present time, before this all esports games, even those recognized by the international esports federation, were not recognized worldwide as sports. Football went further and made this recognition official in documentation. So now these games are part of football. And therefore we can now do this officially.
Speaking about 2020, can you tell us what steps were taken earlier? And how is this launch different?
Let’s start with the fact that in 2021 Ukraine hosted the European Electronic Football Championship. Twelve players from across Europe came to us. The tournament was held under the auspices of IESF and EEF, as well as the UAF, ESUL, the Ukrainian Esports League, and the Ukrainian Esports Federation. I was the general manager of this event. It was held in Kryvyi Rih. We were noted as very cool guys who made a great tournament.
And by the way, for the first time there we made a very interesting move. We combined real football and cyber football. That is, all the cyber football players, after the championship, went to a big field and played against real players.
For example, one of the team’s coaches was Anatoliy Demyanenko. So when the Russians talked about phygital, we had already done phygital long before.
You are launching now, and Rocket League, as I understand, is the first step?
We are not launching. Since 2025, Ukraine already has a national mobile football team and a national eFootball team. That is, from 2020 to 2025 we have always had an eFootball national team that participates in World and European Championships.
With Rocket League, is it the first step?
With Rocket League — yes, the first. We assembled the first team from the best players who currently exist in the rankings. But I, as a manager, now understand directly that this is not enough for us. Because we must always search for new players, search for new names.
Therefore, I proposed to the federation, the federation supported me, and we are launching a cycle of tournaments that will take place in sessions: spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
In spring we will now launch a tournament — it will be like a search for reserves. Because today the eFIFA structure is built in such a way that we can change the roster at every stage. Before qualification for the World Championship there will be three stages. If we find someone better than the guys who are currently there, we will add him to the Ukraine national team. But my vision is that we will not form the national team based on the principle of one club – one team. For example, the French, who won this year’s eFIFA Rocket League World Championship, were represented by two clubs — Karmine Corp and Vitality. I do not consider this the right move.
If in other disciplines one team is often selected because of synergy, is mixing allowed in eFootball?
I do not consider this the right decision. We say we are talking about professional players, and then we talk about some kind of synergy. It’s the same as taking the Ukraine national football team — this is a more difficult system, much more difficult than esports. Because the field is larger, there are more problems, more communication, players play against each other more often in the same championship. So should we say that because of this we will take one team that exists in Ukraine? No, we take different players, right? And if we are talking about professional players, then professional players must understand how to play with any player.
Therefore, I believe that if we begin to talk about esports as a sport, we must talk about having the best players of Ukraine in the national team, whether it is Counter-Strike, Dota, MLBB, and all others.
What are the UAF’s main goals in esports for the next 2–3 years?
To take our top place in Europe and try to win the World Championship in two years.
Are there examples of other football associations you look up to or take as examples?
We were actually the first in Europe to do this. We were the first to recognize esports at the level of football, in Europe in 2020. We still remain one of the few countries, but we were definitely the first to give electronic football the right to vote for the UAF president. Even before the FIFA statutes, we recognized cyber football as part of the UAF. So who should we look at? We can only look at ourselves. But of course, how the French prepare, how the English prepare, how the Germans prepare — we adopt that. But the systems are the same. Now there is a systematic search for a coach.
Who will be responsible for the coaching staff and team preparation? From which coaches are you choosing?
From those who currently coach world teams.
So most likely the coach will be international?
If we take the Rocket League system, today there is no such coach in Ukraine. I do not see today in Ukraine a coach who can meet these objectives. Rocket League is quite a new discipline for Ukraine. Therefore, we need to involve coaches who have their own experience. It is very good that today’s players can speak English. By the way, I emphasize to all players now, especially children, that if you want to have good results, you need to learn English.
Are there specific tournaments that are priorities for the national team?
eFIFA is structured so that there will now be three cycles of the eNations League. Like the Nations League tournament, where everyone will play online. These tournaments do not carry any points. They are simply preparation tournaments.
How important is the development of the amateur scene overall? A national team without an amateur scene cannot look its best. Only when amateurs develop will we train professionals who can win?
That is why today I am signing tournaments in four zones. I am launching tournaments each three-month cycle in order to search for amateurs. The first tournament will help us divide those who play well and those who play poorly. And since I am not new to esports and see this with my own eyes, I understand that soon we will need to create divisions for those who play well, those who play poorly — a bit worse and a bit better. So now we need to separate amateurs, pros, and semi-pros.
Will there be work with schools and universities, involving schoolchildren and students?
Of course, but today we will start with eFootball, not Rocket League. Because today, given that there is a war in Ukraine, we have a very big problem with equipment and electricity. I see that today we can develop esports in the football segment as mobile gaming. Because the full version of eFootball exists on mobile today. They added controllers, so you can control it on a mobile phone with a joystick. Therefore, I believe we will focus on this direction.
How do you plan to combine traditional football and esports? Perhaps in the future we will see every Ukrainian football club having its own Rocket League and eFootball rosters?
Look, today I do not see the creation of clubs within clubs yet. Because we have one parallel. If we create clubs within clubs, clubs will start pouring money exclusively to win this tournament. And this will kill the amateur scene again. If clubs want to create them themselves, they can create them. But today I see that it is better to create clubs by regions.
But there is already a working football system — the league goes by levels: UPL, First League.
No, look, you always want to skip the development process. Let’s start first. At the beginning none of this existed. Danilo, today we are saying that we stand at the beginning of this path. And everyone says we can jump over it. But if we take sports where this was skipped, for example Dota 2 or Counter-Strike — today in the world there are not so many clubs, and amateur clubs are becoming even fewer. Why? Because today there is no proper amateur league where you can self-realize, right? And you enter a league where fallen players from the first division are playing, gaining strength, and after they gain strength you have nothing to do there, right? And you kill the league itself. No, look, if we take football today, it developed for 200 years to reach this system — first, second, third league, even the tenth league. And we want to skip this — it is impossible.
We need to form today a layer of people who love this game. Only after they are formed should we move higher. Therefore, for example, I believe that esports needs two or three years to remain a super amateur sport.
If we talk about amateur tournaments and so on, these will be quite different levels in the first years. How interesting will esports be overall for partners and sponsors?
If we look today, esports is not very interesting for partners and sponsors. Today I have many questions about sponsorship in esports. In 2021 I even set myself the task of holding a conference about money and esports. Because if we take global esports, we see that many clubs are simply unprofitable. Although the industry should be super profitable.
If we talk about sponsors, they will come anyway, because they begin to understand that it is necessary to grow a new generation of children. But if we start with the development of amateur sport, we do not need a lot of money and we do not need super powerful sponsors.
What do you need a sponsor for? You need a sponsor for high salaries, for super top devices and super top tournaments. But I do not see that today we can spend 100 thousand euros to hold a tournament that will bring nothing. I am talking about the number of people who will come there.
Let’s say there is a Ukrainian business, it doesn’t matter which one, and it has the opportunity to enter eFootball. What opportunities does this open? It is definitely cheaper than football — is it cooperation with the UAF?
Of course. First of all, it enters cooperation with the UAF. Now electronic football is part of football. If entering big football today requires super large investments, entering esports is many times cheaper. But you will get advertising on all football panels, and you can support the national team for less money than in big football.
How will the UAF popularize electronic football in Ukraine to increase reach?
First, we will start by making collaborations between the National Cyber Football Team and real players. I am currently negotiating to integrate national esports players into the national team of real football, for example. So that they travel to the same competitions and invite players from other countries to hold pre-match battles. For example, we still have three hours before the start of a match, and we can use them to popularize esports. Show it at tournaments, venues, stadiums — first as part of the show, and then as one of the integral parts of this show.
Look, at one time the Super Bowl introduced this Super Bowl show minute, right? No one thought it would become the most expensive driver for advertising promotion in the world. Now one minute of this show costs about 15 million dollars. And Pokémon shows its advertising at the Super Bowl.
Should we expect professional coverage of eFootball tournaments in the first years?
We make a professional broadcast every time anyway. When the Ukraine national football team holds matches, a studio and broadcast are ordered. If we combine all these parts, the broadcast will be professional. Even when we organized online tournaments in 24 countries — because Ukraine runs such a league for them — we involved player cameras and everything else.
Will there be streamers and influencers on eFootball broadcasts?
I do not think this is necessary. I believe it should be built like real football. If we build it like real football, we must teach real football commentators to comment on electronic sport as well. We must not separate it. It is part of football, part of show football. Football as a show must understand that this is already an integral part of its show. And if today in football a man in a white tie and tuxedo comments, he must comment the same way in esports.
We already look at the created esports system. And we know that, for example, Dota on the official broadcast is watched less than by casters. And every year more and more people ask why they need to buy the broadcast.
Speaking generally, what role now lies on the Ukrainian community that wants to play Rocket League, wants it to develop — what do they need to do?
Come to tournaments, write about themselves, for example on Players, come to the editor-in-chief of Players, who is always open, highlight new things, tournaments, organize your own mini-tournaments by regions or across the country, where we will always help and act as partners. And develop, play and develop.
Will the UAF cooperate with the Esports Federation of Ukraine?
I do not know. Today, if we take eFootball, the Esports Federation of Ukraine has never dealt with it. It was handled by me and the UAF. We do not understand today why we should cooperate with the Esports Federation, because we would have to become part of the Esports Federation and vote for its president. Because we are a sport. Or should we develop directions that are not part of football? Football, motorsport, basketball have their own parts. And I have long said that, for example, the development of esports, if it wants to be a sport, will still come to the model of real sport. For example, each game will eventually create its own public organization.
Because to say that there is some general organization that develops Dota, Counter-Strike, football, Mobile Legends — it is almost unrealistic. I said this once to Vanya Danishevskyi: if the new president asked me, I would tell him that for me the esports federation is like the Olympic committee. It is an объединение of sports. That is, Tetris should also be a part that can vote for the federation president. If they have a systematic tournament, if they have a world championship, and so on. So if we talk about the development of esports, it is impossible today to say that someone personifies esports. It is impossible in essence.
If we look at today’s situation, there are already three esports federations in the world — IESF (International Esports Federation), GEF (Global Esports Federation). Now a new one has been created, I do not yet know its name, but it will deal with the Olympic movement. And now, as we see, the Saudi Esports Federation (SEF) is making one of the best projects we can see in esports — the Nations Cup. And by the way, in the Nations Cup, if you read the documents, they wrote, for example, that in Ukraine there can be not one content manager or not one manager over sports, but several, because they can choose a manager from the MLBB community who will give them an MLBB team, and others. So today there will be four esports federations. And this is all just formation. But the time will come — I know this for sure and believe — when publishers themselves will create a federation. Because today, if we take who eFootball is in the part of Rocket League, we are now the publishers. Because the publisher gave its rights to FIFA, and we are part of FIFA.
When I was recently in Riyadh at the eFIFA Conference, esports federations from other countries came — actual esports federations. And they were all told only one thing: look, if in your country the football federation or association or union is not interested in esports, only then can FIFA cooperate with the esports association. But if the federation says: no, we have our communities, we have our managers, we understand how to develop it, the football federation will cooperate exclusively with the football association.