Hold up a moment, “What are Copas?” we hear you ask. Well in Matchday Champions, Copas are special events that run for a limited time only. In this case localised and limited to two specific regions, Indonesia and Brazil. Our first iteration of the Copa style event was pretty simple: players choose a side, often led by popular influencers or footballers, and contribute points through gameplay to support their team. The more points you earn for your side, the more chance they have of winning, and every player on the winning side gets a prize.
Never a team to turn down a challenge, of course we chose to run consecutive Copa events in two different territories. Two different teams, two different sets of influencers, two times the organisation, twice as much to go wrong - but of course twice the potential reward.
And remember - these events might usually come later in a product’s life, but we are so keen to get things moving with Matchday Champions that we’re experimenting and trying these things out as the game is being improved and built around us.
The Copa: Marselino x MiawAug event in Indonesia was a landmark for Matchday Champions. Our first fully localised campaign, drawing thousands of dedicated players. For a week, gamers picked sides between Team Marselino and Team MiawAug, contributing points through intense gameplay. Marselino Ferdinand is the rising star of the Indonesian football team, while MiawAug is an incredibly popular gaming YouTuber who plays everything from jump scare horror games to life simulators. Matchday Champions’ Copa - Marselino x MiawAug event saw a staggering 215,884 matches played! Eventually MiawAug’s dedicated fans were enough to propel him to victory.
Special shoutout to players like taksone, who led the leaderboard with 2,375 points for Team MiawAug, exemplified the competitive spirit. The live status screen kept everyone on their toes, showing real-time team progress and encouraging continuous participation.
In Brazil, the Copa: Reversão x Banheiristas event extended the excitement, lasting nearly two weeks due to unforeseen circumstances. It was all about picking between Reversão or Banheiristas. The content these football influencers made themselves was off the chain. So inventive and creative - turning themselves into Matchday Champions cards, challenges, buckets of excitement and enthusiasm. Truly a joy to be involved with.
The Brazilian Copa event saw over 456,694 matches played, with 20,098 players picking a side and ultimately Team Banheiristas claiming the first ever Matchday Champions Copa Brazil!
These Copa events have highlighted the immense potential for community-driven competitions within Matchday Champions. Our goal is to continue bringing football to millions of people, getting them into the Matchday Champions community orbit and ensuring they never want to leave.
These events are crucial in order to foster deeper connections with our players. It means something different when you are presented with content that isn’t awkwardly localised, but made by homegrown talent that the audience is already familiar with and trusts. There’s a lot of crossover in the area of football personalities, professional football and of course Matchday Champions. We hope to bring more and more of these sorts of localised events across the world as time goes on.
