EX Sports and its subsidiary Urbanball continued the countdown to their highly anticipated GCC Urbanball Fightball Finals Tournament when they staged the latest round of qualifiers in Bahrain on October.
Urbanball CEO Sean Garnier once again oversaw the action, in partnership with Red Bull, as some of Bahrain’s top street football players seized their opportunity to show off their skills and impress the judges during the Bahrain Urbanball Fightball qualifiers.
The competition was intense, but it was to be local hero Hamed Abdulla Abdulrhman Ali who would eventually come out victorious thanks to his amazing skills and commitment. Hamed’s reward for winning the Bahrain qualifiers is a place in the GCC finals at the iconic Burj Park in Dubai on the 12th of November when he will represent his native Bahrain.
As a top 10 Red Bull Athlete, Urbanball CEO Sean Garnier also entertained the enthusiastic crowd in Bahrain by showcasing his skills in collaboration with Red Bull drifting cars. The connection between street football and high-performance cars is a strong theme of this year’s Urbanball tournament with the finals in Dubai due to take place alongside the Gumball 3000 supercar rally.
EX Sports is a full circle fan engagement platform centered on an NFT Marketplace, Live Streaming, Gaming and E-Commerce. A core mission of EX Sports is to promote athletes in ‘niche’ sports, such as muay Thai, jiu jitsu, powerlifting and street football. Although many of the leading athletes in these sports have huge fan bases, they are largely overlooked in comparison to athletes in more traditional or established sports, such as English Premier League players, NFL pros and NBA athletes, many of whom are currently seeing significant financial rewards from their ventures into the new and lucrative world of NFTs and digital collectibles. With a focus on leveling the playing field, EX Sports is committed to fighting for these ‘underdogs’.
A comprehensive street football ecosystem, Urbanball features a play-to-earn mobile game, NFT collectables, 1-vs-1 ‘Fightball’ tournaments, micro-events, e-commerce and talent management, all of which are fully interconnected. Led by Sean Garnier, the athletes who have signed to the brand include former and current world Panna and Freestyle football champions, who together have more than 30 million followers in their social media accounts, reflecting the EX Sports philosophy of supporting underrepresented but hugely popular athletes in niche sports that tend to be overlooked by the mainstream media.