The Japan Football Association has taken its biggest step yet in the country's burgeoning esports scene, joining the Japan Esports Union as co-host of the newly established esports competition in the cultural program at the 2019 National Sports Festival in Ibaraki Prefecture.
The inaugural Inter Prefectural eSports Championship will be contested in three-on-three matches of the popular Konami title Winning Eleven (known overseas as Pro Evolution Soccer). The championship will take place across two divisions, with one reserved for high school students and the other open to any participant.
The tournament had initially been announced by the JESU and the 2019 National Sports Festival planning committee in May of this year.