The road to UEFA eEuro 2021 glory has begun

Can Italy retain their crown at UEFA eEuro 2021, or will someone knock them off their perch on PES 2021 Season Update.

The Italians won the inaugural competition last summer, and will begin their defence later this month.

Find out more about the tournament below.

eEuro 2021 underway

Qualifying for this summer's tournament is underway, with all 55 of UEFA’s member national associations taking part.

Just like last season's competition, eEuro 2021 is the largest ever national team efootball tournament.

The 55 teams are divided into ten groups and will play each other twice in a ‘home and away’ format.

Every encounter will consist of two 1v1 matches, with the aggregate score over the two games determining the outcome.

The qualifying stage will run through March and into April, before the tournament itself begins on Friday, 9 July.

The ten group winners will qualify directly for the final tournament, which will feature 16 teams.

The ten runners-up will enter a play-off tournament on Monday, 10 and Monday, 17 May to decide the other six finalists.

The winner will be confirmed on Saturday, July 10, a day before the final of the rescheduled Euro 2020 final at Wembley.

Do your country proud

Representing your country in any sport is the pinnacle for competitors.

“The UEFA eEURO has given efootball enthusiasts the chance to dream of representing their country on the biggest stage and all competing teams will be looking to emulate Italy who were victorious last year,” said UEFA marketing director Guy-Laurent Epstein.

“The inaugural UEFA eEURO was an undoubted success, with over 15 million people having watched competition footage across UEFA’s platforms.

"We have seen a massive growth in the popularity of efootball over the past few years and eEURO 2021 will continue to give us the opportunity to connect with new and existing fans of national team football.”

Prize money

A total of €100,000 in cash prizes will be split between all the finalists at this summer's event.

The winning team will split €40,000 between them.

Fixtures & Results

Last year's runners up Serbia have started their campaign with four wins from four matches, including a crushing 13-1 win over Malta.

Last year's champions Italy begin the defence of their crown on Monday, 29 March when they face Portugal, Moldova, Iceland, England and Northern Ireland.

The group stages will end on Monday, 26 April, with the play-offs following in May.

See all the eEuro fixtures and results here.