Nexon has announced that FC Online has been selected as an official event for the 55th National Youth Sports Festival.

The National Youth Sports Festival is the largest multi-sport event for young athletes in Korea, hosted by the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee. This year marks the inaugural inclusion of an esports category. Regional qualifiers will kick off across 17 cities and provinces this March, with the finals scheduled to take place in Busan from May 23 to 24.

FC Online stands alone as the sole esports title chosen for this year's festival. The competition will be split into team and individual categories, merging the U-12 and U-15 age brackets. Each discipline will award one gold, one silver, and two bronze medals. There will be no third-place play-off; those knocked out in the semi-finals will share the bronze.

Regional qualifiers will be conducted as individual events, and the top three players from each region will form a team. These three selected players will represent their respective regional combined teams.

The national finals in Busan will feature a 3-person team tournament involving 17 regional squads, alongside an individual event where all three representatives from each region compete, bringing the total number of participants to 51.

Park Sang-won, head of the FC Group at Nexon, remarked, "We believe FC Online's inclusion in the National Youth Sports Festival is a great opportunity to showcase the joy of FC Online esports to a younger audience." He added, "As the only esports title on the docket, we are committed to providing full support to ensure our players can perform at their peak in a fair and competitive environment."

Further details regarding the regional qualifiers for the 55th National Youth Sports Festival will be provided in due course through local sports councils and offices of education.