KONAMI and the French Football Federation have extended their partnership for multiple years. France will remain eFootball's official national team partner, with branding rights and an eSports presence continuing.
KONAMI has secured a multi-year extension with the French Football Federation. The deal keeps the French National Team tied to eFootball™ as its official football video game partner. Announced on October 1, 2026, from Windsor in the UK, it continues a commercial relationship that began in 2022. It also preserves access to branding, imagery, and activation rights.
The partnership continues
The renewed arrangement gives KONAMI more than logo placement around France's national team. The FFF remains part of a wider package of commercial and media rights. The federation will also continue appearing in selected eSports events alongside other licensed national associations.
The deal connects the national team to regular promotion and competitive gaming. KONAMI has not disclosed the financial terms, the precise length of the extension, or a detailed schedule of activations. The public announcement sets out the scope of the relationship, but not every operational detail.
The available official eFootball materials also contain no separate FFF quotation. They do not include independent confirmation from Reuters, AP, or another comparable major media outlet. Those commercial details therefore remain unverified in the published source set.
The extension adds to eFootball's record of recurring partnerships rather than a single annual product announcement. Official eFootball pages continued to publish franchise updates and announcements in late September and early October 2026. That points to ongoing product support alongside the platform's licensing activity.
Why France matters
France brings an established national identity and a globally recognised football tradition to KONAMI's licensing strategy. The company's European President, Shinji Namekawa, called the renewal an honour. He pointed to France's football heritage and international prestige as reasons for continuing the collaboration.
That statement is promotional by nature. The underlying action is clear. KONAMI retains a formal association with the French National Team and can continue using the agreed commercial and media rights. The FFF will remain visible in selected eSports activity.
No new player likenesses, individual athlete appearances, or specific in-game features have been announced in the supplied material.
The arrangement is part of a wider licensing model that includes other national associations. For players, the value of the deal will depend on how prominently France appears in future campaigns, events, and competitive formats.
A separate official eFootball notice dated September 30, 2026, says eligibility for future eSports tournaments will be determined by the user's country or region of residence and the country or region from which the user logs into the game. That rule may affect tournament access. It does not announce a France-specific competition or activation.
What players can verify
The confirmed timeline is simple. The original partnership began in 2022. The extension was announced on October 1, 2026.
KONAMI also says eFootball™ has passed 1 billion downloads worldwide. That is a cumulative download count, not a measure of active players, sales, or competitive participation. It should not be read as evidence that 1 billion people currently use the platform.
The announcement includes a trailer shared through KONAMI's social media channels. It does not describe the footage as a technical demonstration or provide independent performance evidence. There are no newly published frame-rate targets, resolution claims, platform-specific improvements, or measured results tied to the partnership extension.
Separate from the FFF agreement, KONAMI announced eFootball™ version 6.1.0 for October 2026. According to the official eFootball site and the eFootball X account, the update introduces Select Skill Tokens and Select Position Tokens. Each selection is priced at 100 tokens. These mechanics belong to the wider game update. They are not newly announced benefits of the French federation partnership.
Readers looking for more football software context can compare this announcement with another football partnership that focused on a launch activation outside the pitch. KONAMI's announcement is narrower and more institutional. It confirms rights and continuity, not a new game mode or release feature.
The unanswered details
KONAMI has not said whether the extension will introduce new national team content inside eFootball™. It has also not said whether existing branding arrangements will simply continue.
The announcement gives no dates for upcoming FFF activations. It provides no list of the eSports events involved and no breakdown of which compatible devices will show the partnership most prominently.
That leaves the immediate player impact limited but clear. France will remain part of KONAMI's official football partnership network. The federation will continue to appear in selected eSports events.
The deal does not confirm a new release, a gameplay update, a platform expansion, or any change to the free-to-play structure.
eFootball™ began as the rebranding of KONAMI's PES series. It was rebuilt around a new football game engine and free-to-play distribution across compatible devices.
The platform's stated scale and the continued national-team agreement point to a business focused on sustained digital reach and licensing visibility rather than a one-off campaign. The extension is meaningful industry news, but it is not a gameplay reveal. Its strongest confirmed result is that France remains a commercial and competitive pillar for eFootball™. The player-facing benefits still depend on details KONAMI has not provided.
