The Saudi Arabian ‘Team Falcons’ took the first place in the '16th Arab Cultural Festival: Korea-Arab eSports Tournament,' at VSG Arena in Seoul, hosted by Korea-Arab Society (KAS) and sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, Korea e-Sports Association and Krafton.

Arab Cultural Festival is an annual festival that has been organized by KAS since 2008 to strengthen mutual cultural exchange between Korea and the Arab world. With greater popularity of eSports among young generation, the eSport was selected as official game category at this year’s Hangzhou Asian Games in China. In this context, KAS invited five Arab teams(Team Falcons of Saudi Arabia, Team Jordan, NASR Esports of Saudi, Virtual Gaming Squad of Libya and Xenon of Morocco) to take on a friendly 'PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’(PUBG) mobile game with a Korean team ‘ROX Esports’ to further expand Korea-Arab cultural and people-to-people exchanges in the eSports field.

Before the main game, players from all participating teams were randomly grouped to create new teams, and two rounds of 'Team Deathmatch' was played as an event to create friendly atmosphere for Korean and Arab players.

When the main match started, teams were seated back together with their own teams and the Saudi Arabia's Team Falcons claimed the top prize of 2 million won achieving the highest score across three rounds with 3 chickens and 67 points. Following ‘Team Falcons’, Korea’s ‘ROX Esports’ secured second place with 1 chicken and 35 points, earning 1.5 million won. The third place was claimed by another Saudi team, NASR Esports.

The players of ‘Team Falcons’ expressed their joy at winning and gratitude for the opportunity to experience Korea through this week’s tournament in Seoul. They also conveyed their hope for increased eSports exchanges between Korea and the Arab world in the future.

Kim Chang-mo, Secretary General of Korea-Arab Society(KAS) stated in his opening remarks that as this marks the first ever Korea-Arab eSports Tournament held in Korea, he hoped that this tournament can be a canvas for fostering friendships and strengthening cultural ties through the universal language of eSports.

Chafik Rachadi, Ambassador of Morocco to Korea and the Dean of the Arab Diplomatic Corps in Seoul also attended the opening ceremony along with other ambassadors and diplomats from Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Tunisia. The Ambassador of Morocco delivered a congratulatory remarks emphasizing the significance of Korean-Arab cultural exchange and offered encouragement to the players.

The tournament was livestreamed on Krafton's official YouTube channel (@PUBG MOBILE Esports KR). Viewers who tuned in expressed curiosity about the friendly match between Korean and Arab players. They left messages of support for the players and enjoyed watching the game in real-time.