Inter Miami CF announced today it has signed Venezuela native and South Florida resident Pablo Georgakopoulos ahead of the Club’s first-ever season in eMLS, the League’s competitive EA SPORTS™ FIFA League. The competition will feature a $70,000 prize pool headlined by the eMLS Cup presented by Coca-Cola on March 20-21. The full schedule and format is available below.
“Building off the successes the Club had in gaming this year – be it partnering with Twitch for StreamAid, our eFriendly efforts competing with Clubs in both MLS and the English Premier League, or our fan FIFA 21 tournament Copa De La Familia— entering eMLS was a logical next step for Inter Miami in 2021,” said Inter Miami CF VP of Brand and Marketing Michael Ridley. “We are thrilled to have Pablo as Inter Miami's first esports player and we look forward to supporting his endeavors in eMLS next season.”
Georgakopoulos, who will compete as IMCF_Pabs, earned this opportunity to sign as the Club’s first esports athlete after a surprise tryout held at Inter Miami CF Stadium, where he defeated First Team players Rodolfo Pizarro, Christian Makoun and George Acosta in a EA SPORTS™ FIFA 21 showdown. Additionally, the Valencia, Venezuela native, who has been playing FIFA Ultimate Team for over 10 years, was the top competitor in Miami this year measured by PlayStation4 EA SPORTS™ FIFA 20 PRO points and was ranked 11th in North America in PlayStation4 EA SPORTS™ FIFA 20.
Before reaching this level of success in the esports landscape, the 25-year-old enjoyed a standout youth fútbol career on the pitch after moving to Miami at age 14.
The defender/midfielder played at the Real Madrid Soccer Academy of Americas from 2009 to 2011, at the Kendall Academy in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy from 2011 to 2013 - where he also captained the U17 side in the fall of 2011 - and at Ronald W. Reagan Doral Senior High School from 2011 to 2013. Georgakopoulos then committed to Barry University and competed at the NCAA Division II level, playing all four years with the team, accumulating the third most minutes and winning the Sunshine State Conference Tournament in his freshman year, in which he scored the third penalty in the title-winning shootout.
"I'm very excited to represent my hometown club, and I am grateful for this amazing opportunity. My goal is to compete at the highest level and make this a memorable first season in eMLS for Inter Miami," said Georgakopoulos.
2021 eMLS Season Schedule and Format Details:
The 2021 eMLS season will feature a $70,000 prize pool and will be headlined by eMLS Cup presented by Coca-Cola on March 20-21. Competition will occur on EA SPORTS™ FIFA 21 and will be played exclusively on PlayStation®4 (PS4).
The 2021 eMLS season will be comprised of three live-streamed tournaments that each take place over the course of two days, doubling the broadcast hours of the 2020 eMLS season. The season will kick off in January with eMLS League Series One presented by Coca-Cola, continue in February with eMLS League Two presented by Coca-Cola and conclude in March with eMLS Cup presented by Coca-Cola. Ahead of each League Series, all 27 Clubs will play in online qualifier games with the top 8 Clubs in points making it to the respective League Series knockout tournament. After League Series concludes, the top 11 Clubs in total points will automatically qualify for eMLS Cup. The remaining 16 Clubs will compete in a Last Chance Qualifier tournament to battle for the final 12th seed of eMLS Cup.
2021 eMLS Season Schedule:
Jan. 16-17 – League Series One
Feb. 13-14 – League Series Two
March 20-21 – eMLS Cup
Fans can tune in to all three competitions on Twitch.tv/MLS, Twitter.com/MLS and MLSsoccer.com.
In October 2020, Inter Miami became the 27th franchise to join eMLS ahead of the 2021 competitive season. Each franchise will feature an eMLS player competing to be crowned the best EA SPORTS™ FIFA 21 player in North America.
For more information on Inter Miami’s eMLS, visit https://www.intermiamicf.com/en/emls. Follow Inter Miami’s first-ever eMLS player via stream on the Club’s Twitch channel @InterMiami_cf and YouTube channel as well as his personal Twitch channel @Pabsvibez_.
