Konami’s eFootball celebrates 1 billion downloads by bringing back a limited-time take on PES Master League

Konami is celebrating a major milestone for eFootball by releasing a time-limited take on its classic Master League mode.

The free-to-play football game – the successor to Konami‘s previously annual Pro Evolution Soccer / Winning Eleven series – recently passed 1 billion downloads across all formats, Konami says.

To mark this, a new in-game campaign called Master League Sprint has been launched today, offering players an experience similar to the Master League mode in previous Pro Evolution Soccer games.

Master League used to be the main career mode in Konami’s football series, and had players starting with a team of fictional players and taking part in league matches, buying and selling players while also improving the original players they started with.

Master League Sprint attempts to emulate this to some extent by bringing back some of those fictional players such as Minanda and Castolo, and allowing players to “step into the role of a club manager, overseeing player signings, line-up selection, and scheduling training sessions”.

Players will take part in ‘Synergy’ matches where players’ abilities and condition affects the team’s overall chemistry. Various ‘episodes’ will also take place during matches, such as player growth, changes in player condition and injuries.

By earning points from each match, players can then sign new players and reshape their squad.

Master League Sprint will only be available for a week, however, with Konami saying it will end on April 16.

While there are no plans to bring eFootball to Switch 2, Nintendo‘s console will instead be getting a separate spin-off game which may appeal more to players craving the full Master League experience.

Set for release this summer, eFootball Kick-Off! offers more offline modes than the main eFootball game, including a World Tour mode where players set up their own club team and take part in competitions around the world, signing new players for their team as they play (including legends such as David Beckham).