{"id":21842,"date":"2026-03-09T16:06:54","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T15:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esportsplayerfoundation.org\/blog\/2026\/03\/09\/mms-nxt-gen-academy-2\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T11:26:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T09:26:20","slug":"mms-nxt-gen-academy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esportsplayerfoundation.org\/en\/blog\/2026\/03\/09\/mms-nxt-gen-academy-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Launch of the NXT Gen Academy: 64 EA FC talents aim for the finals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today marks the kickoff of the <strong>MediaMarktSaturn NXT Gen Academy.<\/strong> Over the next five weeks, the best up-and-coming talents in EA FC Esports will compete against each other for a spot in the grand offline final at XPERION Germany.<\/p>\n<p>Interest in the Academy is greater than ever this year: <strong>250<\/strong> players applied for one of the coveted wildcards. In the end, 64 talents qualified to participate.<\/p>\n<p>An intense competition with a clear structure awaits them:<\/p>\n<p>5 weeks of competition<\/p>\n<p>5 weekly showdowns<\/p>\n<p>64 participating up-and-coming talents<\/p>\n<p>The top 8 qualify for the offline finals at XPERION Germany<\/p>\n<p>The grand finale will take place as part of the VBL Singles Championship final and will bring the Academy\u2019s top talents to one of the biggest stages in German EA FC Esports.<\/p>\n<p>Top clubs support the next generation<\/p>\n<p>Once again this year, the Academy is supported by numerous <strong>renowned clubs<\/strong> from the professional esports scene. Among them are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bayer 04 Leverkusen<\/li>\n<li>Borussia Dortmund<\/li>\n<li>Eintracht Frankfurt<\/li>\n<li>Hertha BSC<\/li>\n<li>TSG 1899 Hoffenheim<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Together, they are creating a platform that offers young talents exactly what is often missing in esports: regular competition, the chance to measure themselves against others, and lasting visibility.<\/p>\n<p>A stepping stone to professional esports<\/p>\n<p>The MediaMarktSaturn NXT Gen Academy is increasingly becoming a key entry point for professional EA FC esports.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, 14 out of 32 participants made the leap to the Virtual Bundesliga\u2014a clear sign of the Academy\u2019s competitive level.<\/p>\n<p>With the new competition format, the talent pool is being further expanded this year. Instead of 32, 64 young players are now participating and gaining valuable competitive experience over several weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Defending champion back in the running<\/p>\n<p>Special attention is once again focused on <strong>Robert Brysik<\/strong> this year. The 14-year-old player has already won the NXT Gen Academy twice in a row and is entering the competition once again as the defending champion.<\/p>\n<p>The big question for the coming weeks is therefore:<br \/>\nWill anyone manage to knock this exceptional talent off his throne?<\/p>\n<p>The next five weeks promise high-level competition and exciting matchups &#8211; all in the spirit of the next generation of EA FC Esports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today marks the kickoff of the MediaMarktSaturn NXT Gen Academy. Over the next five weeks, the best up-and-coming talents in EA FC Esports will compete against each other for a spot in the grand offline final at XPERION Germany. Interest in the Academy is greater than ever this year: 250 players applied for one of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[384,366],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campaigns","category-promotion","category-384","category-366","description-off"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esportsplayerfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esportsplayerfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esportsplayerfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esportsplayerfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esportsplayerfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esportsplayerfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esportsplayerfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esportsplayerfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esportsplayerfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esportsplayerfoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}