Benchmark e-sports event kicks off in Istanbul

The first day at the Istanbul 2022 Global Esports Games featured the 3rd Global Esports Federation (GEF) General Assembly, the 8th GEF board meeting, and the worldwide launch of the Global Esports Academy, as well as GEFcon, a convening of global thought leaders.

“I was in Singapore in the middle of Covid, and it was a very solid step under very difficult conditions,” said Renay Onur, GM and Board Member, Spor Istanbul, a GEF event partner for Istanbul 2022.

“The event was made there. The first event is important, but the second event is as important, because if that is solid, you keep on running.

Source: GEF. The GEF welcomes the #worldconnected community to Istanbul.

“We hope we are raising the bar. Istanbul is so diverse, and so is e-sports. It doesn’t matter your gender, race, ethnicity, if you are living with a disability – you are able to play e-sports. It is strong among the young generation in Istanbul. They have a passion for e-sports, and it fits in like parts of a puzzle.

“The Member Federations and the athletes need to send a strong message to the world at a time when the world needs this message – we just want to be together.”

Alper Özdemir, President of the Turkish Esports Federation (TESFED), was equally enthusiastic. “We are happy that we can host more than 300 athletes from 65 countries in our beautiful city,” he said. “I hope these days will be joyful and competitive.

“The esports scene in Türkiye is incredible because we have a very young population. TESFED was founded in 2018 and e-sports was recognised as sport that same year."

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