Romania fights for the title on Friday at the VR Esports World Tournament at Gamescom

Romania will make its debut at a global VR esports tournament with Project Underdog competing at the EVA Invitational, held in Cologne. The tournament will take place on Friday, August 22, starting at 1:30 PM (CEST), in Hall 7.1 at Gamescom, Europe’s largest video game trade fair.

At the EVA Invitational, the six participating teams are split into two groups of three. Group A includes France, Spain, and Switzerland. Romania is in Group B, alongside Germany and Belgium. Each team plays two matches, and the winners of each group advance to the EVA Invitational 2025 Grand Final, which will crown the VR esports world champion.

Team Romania, consisting of Mihai “aNON1M” Brad, Alexandru “ALY86” Leon, Flavian “Șeful” Gall, and Alin “SHERiFU” Tatomir, qualified after winning the first national VR esports tournament in Romania, organized in July at the EVA Bucharest arena.

“We know we’re stepping into a competition where teams from France or Belgium have years of extra experience compared to us, but we’re not coming to Cologne just to tick a box. We want to win at least one match, fight until the very last point, and prove that Romania has real potential in VR esports. Of course, we’d love to reach the final against France and give it everything we’ve got. Until then, we’re training hard at EVA Bucharest: exploring and learning the maps, testing strategies, and playing practice matches with teams that took part in the local qualifiers,” said Mihai “aNON1M” Brad, captain of Project Underdog.

All tournament matches will be streamed live on Friday, August 22, from 2:30 PM on EVA Romania’s YouTube channel.

EVA (Esports Virtual Arenas) is a VR esports arena recently opened in Bucharest, where players move freely across two real-life play areas of 500 m² each, using state-of-the-art wireless VR equipment in a unique blend of competitive gaming and physical activity. The brand is present in more than 58 locations worldwide and aims to build a competitive community in Romania, connected to the international scene.