Controllers to the sky, Italy are the European champions! Today, the newest member of the Azzurri family won UEFA eEURO 2020, the first virtual European Championship played on Pro Evolution Soccer (Playstation 4). It’s a brilliant achievement for the TIMVISION PES eNazionale, who, after sailing through the group stage yesterday, overcame Israel, France and Serbia to win the FIGC’s first trophy in the eFoot world. The deciding goal was made in Naples: with Italy’s fate in the hands of eplayer Carmine ‘Naples17x’ Liuzzi, Lorenzo Inzaghi scored in the 91st minute to win the fourth and final fixture against the Serbs in the final.

With the European Championship having been postponed by a year due to the Covid-19 emergency, Italy can nevertheless celebrate winning a virtual tournament that took place over the course of the weekend and consisted of 16 finalists. And it’s all thanks to the fantastic performances of the four Azzurri eplayers – Rosario ‘Npk_02’ Accurso, Nicola ‘nicaldan’ Lillo, Carmine ‘Naples17x’ Liuzzi and Alfonso ‘AlonsoGrayfox’ Mereu – who led Italy on an exciting journey that culminated in the final victory over Serbia, who the Azzurri had already beaten during the group stage yesterday.

“Congratulations to the eNazionale,” said FIGC President Gabriele Gravina. “We’ve believed in this new kind of competition from the start, one which unites football fans and eGames enthusiasts. After achieving this important feat in this UEFA tournament, we’re ready to take on a new challenge: the World Cup organised by FIFA.”

This newly formed Italy side emerged victorious in the final thanks to the wins achieved by Alfonso ‘AlonsoGrayfox’ Mereu against ‘roksaczv22’ (4-2 with an Immobile hat-trick and a goal from Quagliarella), Nicola ‘nicaldan’ Lillo against ‘roksaczv22’ (1-0, Immobile) and Carmine ‘Naples17x’ Liuzzi against ‘Kepa_PFC’ (2-1 with a stoppage-time winner from Lorenzo Inzaghi), thus rendering Rosario ‘Npk_02’ Accurso’s defeat meaningless.

Italy’s semi-final showdown with France, who had initially started out as the favourites to win the tournament, was also exciting and full of twists and turns. In the first match, Carmine ‘Naples17x’ Liuzzi managed to beat three-time world champion ‘usmakabyle’ 2-1 thanks to Lorenzo Pellegrini’s goal just two minutes before the end of extra time. And more drama was to come in the second fixture, with Azzurri captain Nicola ‘nicaldan’ Lillo triumphing over ‘lofti_derradji’ on penalties in a remake of the memorable World Cup final 14 years ago in Berlin. After taking a 3-1 lead following goals from Zaniolo, Belotti and Immobile, ‘nicaldan’ was pegged back in the second half thanks to Fekir’s brace.

The penalty shootout victory saw Italy qualify for the final, the final act of a day which had begun with the TIMVISION PES eNazionale comfortably dispatching of Israel thanks to Alfonso ‘AlonsoGrayfox’ Mereu’s victory over ‘Oreldi23’ (1-0 thanks to Belotti) and Rosario ‘Npk_02’ Accurso’s win against ‘Nym_Astam’ (4-0, a Zaniolo brace and goals from Quagliarella and Florenzi).

A weekend to remember has now come to an end in the best possible way for the Azzurri, who began by beating Denmark (5-1) and Serbia (6-5) and finishing top of Group B yesterday. And just over 24 hours later, the Serbs would once again fall victim to an Italy side which has already written a page of eFoot history.

Quarter-finals

Netherlands 1-2 Romania
Spain 1-2 Serbia
ITALY 2-0 Israel
France 2-0 Croatia

Semi-finals

ITALY 2-0 France
Serbia 2-1 Romania

Final

ITALY 3-1 Serbia