Upcoming EA FC rival UFL enjoys massive first beta weekend

A huge win.

Cristiano Ronaldo in UFL's promotional poster.
Image via Strikerz Inc.

An upcoming EA Sports FC rival, UFL, held its first open beta between June 7 and 9. Over these three days, it recorded astonishing numbers, with millions of players tuning in.

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The game’s official X (formerly Twitter) profile shared some information about the beta on June 17. A graphic outlined that players created 1,320,000 clubs, played 5,560,000 matches, and scored 9,986,206 goals.

It also revealed some unsurprising details, like how Cristiano Ronaldo was the most popular player throughout the weekend. The Portuguese is one of the ambassadors of UFL, investing serious money in the game. Aside from that, the developer said the United Kingdom, Brazil, The United States, Germany, and France were the five countries with the most players. That is hardly surprising since all four (except the U.S.) countries are known for their national teams and leagues.

Judging by the comments on X, players have also enjoyed UFL, with many wanting the open beta to return as soon as possible. “It was fun, even if the game isn’t near finished. We need this again,” one player wrote.

UFL was announced at Gamescom 2021 and was intended to release in 2022. It was, however, postponed to launch a year later, and now it’s set to release in 2024. It’s considered the main competitor to Electronic Arts’ EA Sports FC, a successor to the renowned FIFA series. Contrary to EA’s franchise, UFL is supposed to be free-to-play, without in-game pay-to-win options.

While the exact release date still being a mystery, there’s not much we can do. But with the open beta seemingly a success, more news could be coming our way soon.

Author
Image of Mateusz Miter
Mateusz Miter
Freelance Writer at Dot Esports. Mateusz previously worked for numerous outlets and gaming-adjacent companies, including ESL. League of Legends or CS:GO? He loves them both. In fact, he wonders which game he loves more every day. He wanted to go pro years ago, but somewhere along the way decided journalism was the more sensible option—and he was right.