This weekend will see the first Kazan Mayor Cup will take place in the Russian city. It’ll see FIFA players from the likes of Man City, Valencia, Ajax, AS Roma and FC Rubin take part in the group and knockout tournament. 
FC Rubin Kazan player Anton Zhukov and the winners of ‘ROSGOSSTRAH RFPL Cyber football Championship’ will represent the Russian national team. The players will start the competition in two groups ‘Russia’ and ‘Europe’.
The tournament is being arranged in association with the Russian Premier League, and is another instance of a footballing body involving itself in esports.
The likes of Ligue 1 in France, the Eredivisie in the Netherlands have both announced plans for a FIFA component of their leagues, whilst La Liga clubs are getting involved the V.F.O in Spain and in Germany the football federation has even wider plans.
The live broadcast of this Kazan tournament can be followed at the Russian Football Premier League website (киберфутбол.рф), VK pages of Nash Futbol (vk.com/rfpl), on Game Show TV channel’s live broadcast, in the LG Smart TV Game Show application, and Premier League clubs’ social media.
Game Show TV channel General Producer Natalia Tchaykovskaya stated: “At the end of February we showed games of OLIMP RFPL Virtual Football Cup, and they were very well welcomed by spectators. Millions of people watched the tense competition of the RFPL 16 clubs competing for the trophy. Now the fever pitch will be even higher at the Championship, because the chance to represent Russia at international competitions is at stake”.
Esports Insider says: We’ve seen tournaments like these pop up in London with West Ham hosting and elsewhere in Europe too such as the Legia Cup in Poland. It’s good to see them spread further afield, and this offers a good chance for Russian hopefuls to play on a relatively big stage. Kudos to the Russian Premier League for giving it some backing too.