Rocket League officially recognised as a football game in FIFA esports partnership

Something I never considered when FIFA and EA ended their partnership was how this would affect the former’s own esports competition, FIFAe. With EA continuing its football game series as EA Sports FC, there’s no new, officially licensed FIFA game to take its place. So, for this year’s FIFAe tournament, the organisation has opted to run Rocket League instead.

“This move signifies a major step in FIFA’s commitment to embrace the entire ecosystem and drive the global growth of football esports globally,” reads an announcement from FIFA. “The partnership brings the intensity and excitement of the FIFAe nations’ narrative to an electrifying new stage and allows players to fame their game in their nation colours. This inclusion represents a broader engagement with the community and embraces esports beyond traditional football simulations.”

At first, this seemed a bit bizarre to me, but Rocket League is technically a football game. Sure, you’re driving cars around the pitch, but the aim is to knock a ball into the opposing team’s goal to score points. Plus, the game has remained incredibly popular since its 2015 launch and has cultivated its own esports scene, so it being the star of this year’s FIFAe tournament should help draw more attention to it, or at least help it capture a new audience.

An exact date for the tournament hasn’t been confirmed yet, but it will consist of 16 national teams, which will be chosen “based on the number of representatives from each country in previous Rocket League Majors.” Director of eFootball and Gaming at FIFA Christian Volk added, “The FIFAe World Cup featuring Rocket League marks a new era for FIFAe, providing a groundbreaking platform for FIFA’s member associations to compete on one of the most relevant esports titles. This milestone partnership highlights our commitment to evolve our football esports ecosystem and continue to build the biggest stages for all communities to fame their game.”

I do wonder whether this will be a long-term partnership considering FIFA does have plans to release officially licensed FIFA games again. After skipping 2023, it’s been claimed that FIFA has formed a new deal with 2K, and that their first project together, FIFA 2K25, will launch later this year. If so, you’d think this would be the game FIFA would run for next year’s FIFAe tournament, unless it decides to have separate competitions for the FIFA game and Rocket League.

It would make sense for FIFA to pick 2K to helm new FIFA games since it already has its own sports sims for basketball and golf, and 2K getting its own football series could make for some good competition with EA Sports FC. There’s little else challenging EA on that front, although the upcoming free-to-play UFL had a very successful beta session earlier this month, with over one million players taking part.