Esports Around The World: Portugal

Esports Around The World is a series of profiles outlining the esports ecosystem in various countries globally. For details about ESI Lisbon, Esports Insider’s esports, gaming and creator industry event in Portugal, click here.

With a population of roughly 10 million, Portugal sits at the very Westernmost point of continental Europe. Despite sharing the Iberian peninsula with its much larger neighbour Spain, Portugal manages to pull its own weight in esports.

Esports in Portugal has a surprisingly long history. Portuguese esports organisation K1ck Esports was established in 1998, making it one of the oldest esports organisations in the world. Several other organisations also claim decades-long histories such as non-profit Grow uP, founded in 2002, and For The Win which dates to 2012. Portugal also plays host to Lisboa Games Week, a major gaming trade fair running since 2014, as well as XL Games.

Today, Portugal has seen a few big Counter-Strike events hosted in the country. BLAST Premier’s 2022 Spring Finals and the BLAST Pro Series Lisbon 2018 were both held at the MEO Arena in the capital, Lisbon. There are several Portuguese Counter-Strike players relevant on the global stage, particularly Ricardo ‘fox’ Pacheco, alongside his four Portuguese teammates at SAW, which participated at the PGL Major Stockholm 2024.

The country’s biggest domestic Counter-Strike league is the Master League, run by event operator E2Tech. The company also organises a range of regional esports and gaming events including Rocket Master League Portugal and efootball esports competitions, the latter of which is in collaboration with the Portuguese Football Federation.

While generally smaller than the Counter-Strike scene in the country, Portugal has a domestic League of Legends league, the Liga Portuguesa de League of Legends (LPLOL). According to its website, the tournament’s commercial portfolio includes the likes of Worten, Lenovo Legion, Kitkat and Alpha Gamer. Additionally, the country runs a domestic VALORANT Challengers League (VCL) called Tempest.

LPLOL and VCL: Tempest are organised by Inygon, a Portuguese esports startup that offers tournament operations and other esports services. There are a handful of notable LoL players from Portugal, such as ex-Giants player Amadeu ‘Attila’ Carvalho.

Meanwhile, Gaspar ‘Hypno’ Machado is a Quake and Unreal Tournament star hailing from Portugal who has several major trophies under his belt.

Additionally, multi-title women’s esports event GIRLGAMER Esports Festival — which is run by Grow uP — was held in Lisbon in 2018. Telmo Silva, the Founder and CEO at Grow uP eSports, was inducted into the ESI Hall of Fame in 2022 as a Youth Champion. Meanwhile, in May 2022, global customer experience company Teleperformance unveiled a €1.2m (~£1.0m) esports arena in Lisbon that is primarily used by its staff and for private events.

With its rich footballing history, Portugal has also been active in the football sports simulation space. In March 2023 the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), the governing body for football in Portugal, launched a campaign to popularise esports in the country — in particular EA Sports FC and eFootball. The campaign aims to communicate the benefits of esports with a broader audience in Portugal, focusing on Portuguese universities.

The FPF also features a specialised esports division called FPF eFootball. The division organises several competitions and chooses Portugal’s national esports team in EA Sports FC.

In addition to the FPF’s support, the country’s top-flight football clubs participate in eLiga Portugal, an official esports competition organised by the Portuguese Football League (LigaPortugal) that is a part of the wider EA FC ecosystem. The tournament sees clubs such as Benfica, Boavista, Braga and Sporting (who upgraded their own esports facility in 2023) compete.

Portuguese international football star Diogo Jota additionally launched and owns his own esports team, Luna Galaxy (formerly Diogo Jota Esports).

Other sporting federations in Portugal have started to identify esports as a viable opportunity. The Portuguese Federation of Automobile and Karting has a division which runs sim-racing competitions. Moreover, the Portuguese Basketball Federation has a tournament for NBA2K players.

In September 2024, Esports Insider will hold its flagship esports, video games and gaming creator industry conference, ESI Lisbon, in the country’s capital. The conference gathers leading stakeholders from the esports, gaming and creator sectors worldwide at the MEO Arena from September 23rd-25th, and includes special events such as the ESI Film Festival, the ESI Hall of Fame and Esports Leaders.

The Portuguese government does not appear to have taken any public steps to recognise or fund the esports sector in the country.

While the government has not gotten involved directly, state-owned broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) has a dedicated esports news portal, RTP Arena, which has covered national and international esports news since 2016.

Portugal has several notable domestic leagues with interest from both fans and sponsors, but has seen relatively few major international LAN events.