eFootball 2023: Master League, Season 1 patch notes and more

Many gaming fans are getting excited for the release of eFootball 2023 and here is everything we know so far about this game.

eFootball is made by Konami, who are the developers of Pro Evolution Soccer, and although this reincarnation of PES didn't start well, it has seen an increase in players.

Hopefully, the football game, which is similar to EA SPORTS FIFA, will have a bit more of a successful journey when eFootball 2023 is released.

It is the perfect time for Konami to bring out this game as the 2022/23 football season is underway. Here is everything we know about eFootball 2023.

Release Date

The release date for the 2023 upgrade has been disclosed via the official eFootball Twitter account. On Thursday, 25th August 2022, eFootball 2023 will be made available.

eFootball 2023 updates

In August 2022, the eFootball Twitter account has been revealing some of the updates coming to the game in eFootball 2023. Here they are:

They revealed that: "eFootball™ 2023 will feature the latest player data. However, some clubs (e.g. certain teams in the Dutch and French leagues) will not have their latest strips available in-game. Please see the in-game announcement for more information."

Update 25th August: The first season is finally here and that means the first update has arrived!

Patch Notes - Season 1

Here are the patch notes for the Season 1 Update, and they have been gathered from the official eFootball/Konami site:

Playability Enhancements

In this update, we have implemented enhancements on the movement response of players during both attacking and defending scenarios.
We have implemented adjustments to the application of inertia. Players will now be able to react more responsively to the opposition's sudden directional changes, as well as making it easier to turn and chase opponents down.
For attacking, we have implemented enhancements on the manoeuvrability of ball control by reviewing dribbling-related animations as well as the speed of ball touches.

Evolution of Player Individualities

We have also reviewed the expression of player individualities.
We have implemented adjustments to the reflection criteria for player acceleration; Defensive Awareness and GK Awareness will also be taken into account now when determining players' speed of movement and acceleration in defensive situations.
Like the previous case, players' swiftness of ball touches was solely influenced by their Acceleration stat in the past. This has been changed and their Ball Control stat will now be taken into account as well. Moreover, we have diminished the effect players' height have on their ball control responsiveness.
Feints have also been reviewed in a similar manner, and the impact of players' Dribbling stat has been amplified whilst the effect of their height has been lessened. This allows taller players with a high Dribbling stat to perform feints more swiftly than ever before.
On the topic of feints, we are aware of an issue where players were able to perform feints repeatedly and unnaturally in succession, as well as performing incisive and sharp feints even when they were fatigued towards the end of a match. Therefore, we have implemented adjustments to the speed of feints so that as the players' stamina decreases, their feinting speed will also decrease. In addition, the speed of feints will also be impacted by temporary fatigue when performing feints in succession.

Gameplay Balance Adjustments
Corner Kick Defending

Corner kicks often present important scoring opportunities in real-world football. However, we are aware that the scoring patterns from corner kicks were slightly unrealistic in previous versions of the game. As such, we have adjusted the trajectory and accuracy of kicks.
We have also adjusted the positioning and reactions of defenders and the goalkeeper.

Kick-off Defending

Another issue was that there were too many goals scored immediately after kick-off, which isn't a common sight in real-world football.
This has also been addressed by adjusting the positioning of defensive marking and the defence line at kick-off. The adjustments serve to mitigate instances where unnatural man-marking allows opposition players to break free.

Team Playstyle "Long Ball"

An issue arose where the midfielders would position themselves higher up the field on the receiving end of a long ball, making it difficult for the targeted player to contest and keep the ball. This also led to a higher risk of being exposed to counter attacks in cases where the long balls were intercepted.
To address this issue, we have adjusted the positioning of the midfield players. This will now make it easier for the front-line target to keep the contested ball.

Precision of First-time Shots

We have implemented adjustments so that if the player maintains their balance whilst attempting a first-time shot, the shot will have a higher accuracy.
Players with the Player Skill "First-time Shot" will have an even higher possibility of landing their shots on-target.

General Fixes Applied to Mitigate or Eliminate the Bugs Shown Below

PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows, Steam

The application may crash due to an error
When attempting a direct shot on the receiving end of crosses, the player may take a touch with his chest before shooting
Inputting a Controlled Shot command immediately after inputting a Stunning Shot command will see the player perform a pacy Controlled Shot
In online matches, kick feints may not be triggered even if a kick feint command is inputted
Trajectory adjustments of goal kicks are not reflected
For goalkeepers, the "pick up the ball" command may not be performed as intended
After inputting certain goalkeeping commands in specific sequences, the goalkeeper may become slow in movement
The goalkeeper may not get on his feet after performing a save
Certain goalkeepers may have their arms crossed when receiving the ball from the ball person before a goal kick
The match may end abruptly just as the ball is deflected off a defending player and goes into the net
When restarting with a quick throw-in, the match may restart without the ball being displayed
When the ball goes out for a corner kick, the match may restart immediately after the ball went out of play
Players' facial expressions may switch abruptly
The shoulders of some spectators may move in an unnatural manner
When there is a connection delay in online matches, players may move on their own after controlling the ball even if no commands were inputted
Certain commands could cause online PvP matches to end prematurely and result in them being voided
In certain stadiums, parts of the stands may illuminate excessively and flicker during certain cutscenes
In certain stadiums, the lighting around the roof may flicker during certain cutscenes
During the victory cutscenes of certain competitions, some parts of the stadium may not be displayed
In certain stadiums, pillar-like graphics are displayed in the foreground during replays.
The post-match Exp. gain screen is displayed even if there are no Experience Points gained
If only ineligible Events are being held in Challenge Events (Authentic), an error will occur when proceeding from the Events screen
After exchanging eFootball™ Points for in-game items, the cursor returns to the top of the list
In the player details screen, the name of the column that displays information regarding Team Playstyle Proficiency is erroneously titled "Team Playstyle"
In [Contract] > [Standard Player List], continue displaying players without sorting will result in heavy screen transitions and movement
After developing a player to max Level, the small thumbnail image remains the same even though the Player Card photo has changed
In [Standard Player List], switching the Sort filters repeatedly between "Player Value" and "Price" will result in the erroneous display of the Player List
In some languages, the end of sentences may be displayed erroneously in certain screens
In [Game Settings] > [Audio] > [Audio] > [Custom], environmental sounds may still be played in-match even if the [Stadium] option is set to 0
In some languages, the word order of the displayed text is erroneous

iOS, Android

The application may crash due to an error
When defending the opposition's passes and free-kicks, "Match-up" may not be triggered continuously and could instead be interrupted
When defending a set-piece with the Defending Control Type set to "Standard" for "Classic" Control Type, players will not dash even after pressing "Dash & Pressure"
Performing a Controlled Shot in instances such as immediately after performing a kick feint may result in a Stunning Shot being erroneously triggered
After passing to a nearby teammate in a short corner, ball control commands may not trigger as intended
When there is a connection delay in online matches, players may move on their own after controlling the ball even if no commands were inputted
The goalkeeper may not get on his feet after performing a save
Goalkeepers may react unnaturally to a back pass
Performing specific commands during a throw-in will result in throw-in feints being triggered in succession
When taking a corner kick, pressing the "Switch View" button repeatedly will result in the camera view being switched repeatedly
The match may end abruptly just as the ball is deflected off a defending player and going into the net
After a back pass is played to the goalkeeper, the goalkeeper may not take a touch which would result in an own goal
Buttons in the pause menu do not react if the screen is being touched
When scoring with a powerful shot, the ball may pierce through the goal net
When taking a free-kick for the first time with the camera zoomed out, pressing the "Switch Camera Angle" button repeatedly will see the command guides being displayed
The device's "Back" key may not work during offline matches
In online matches, the match may resume with the Game Plan Auto Settings screen still being displayed as the time limit runs out
Information regarding "Series" of players are not available in the in-match Game Plan screen
During online matches, a different Camera Settings than the one configured may be reflected instead
In [Camera Settings], tapping the "Back" button repeatedly may result in frequent switches between the Camera Settings screen and the blue background
During goal celebrations, if one finger is held down on the screen, the celebration cutscene cannot be skipped by tapping the screen with the other finger
The post-match Exp. Gain screen is displayed even if there are no Experience Points gained
In Friend Match, the edited team name is not displayed under Match History
In Friend Match, player injuries will still occur even after setting "Injuries" to "Off"
In Friend Match, accessing User Details will see the user's own details being displayed instead of the opponent's
In Game Plan, the Reserves menu remains active even if there are no Reserves players registered
In Game Plan, viewing the Player Details of a Reserves player will see the scroll position of the Reserves list being reset
When the Card View display is selected under [My Team] > [Players], scrolling to the top or the bottom of the list will disable the "Rotate" option temporarily
When performing contract renewals under [My Team] > [Players], selecting a player after sorting in the order of [Duration of Contract] will see the Player Card of a different player being erroneously displayed
In the player details screen, the name of the column that displays information regarding Team Playstyle Proficiency is erroneously titled "Team Playstyle"
When putting a Lock on a manager whilst possessing more than 4 managers in the team, the Lock icon will appear momentarily on the other managers displayed in the back
In [Standard Player List] or [Manager List], mismatches between the displayed region names and images will occur when filtering players/managers with the "Nationality/Region" option
When tapping an inactive menu, the menu sound effects may erroneously play
In instances where tapping the screen does not trigger screen transitions, menu sound effects may still erroneously play
In [Game Settings] > [Audio], environmental sounds may still be played in-match even if the [Stadium] option is set to 0
After setting Control Type to "Classic" in certain languages, the "Pressure button" is not mentioned in the "GK Dash" command guide under [Extras] > [Help] > [Command List] > [Defence]
When Control Type is set to "Standard", the buttons displayed in the "Pressure" command tutorial video are incorrect
When a player receives a yellow card in the Tutorial match, the yellow card icon is not displayed next to the player's name
In the command tutorial for "Match-up", the displayed command feedback is different from the command performed
During Free Training, the entire screen may go black except for the UI displays
In the "Dribbling" and "Pressing" command tutorials, the "Opponent scored" message is erroneously displayed after the ball goes into either of the goals

Image Credit: Konami

Global Improvements
PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows , Steam

When releasing a player that is already registered in Game Plan, an alert message will be displayed indicating that "The player is currently registered in a Game Plan", and said player can now be released directly afterwards
Various measures were taken to prevent manipulation of match results decision by ending online matches by improper means
A variety of minor adjustments have been made to each mode and to matches, with the aim of improving the overall gaming experience

iOS and Android

Implemented changes to the positioning of buttons for "Classic" Control Type settings
Players registered in Game Plan can be released directly, with an alert message indicating "You have selected a player in your Game Plan"
Various measures were taken to prevent manipulation of match results decision by ending online matches by improper means
A variety of minor adjustments have been made to each mode and to matches, with the aim of improving the overall gaming experience

How much does eFootball 2023 cost?

For those who do not know, eFootball 2023 will not cost a penny. This is because all the developers are doing is updating eFootball™ 2022 to eFootball™ 2023 in late August.

eFootball 2023 patch notes

When this eFootball 2023 update goes live, it will be a big file to download with many patch notes. For now, these patch notes haven't been revealed. The developers will reveal them to the gaming community when the update goes live in late August 2022.

eFootball did give us some news around the update as they said: "As a part of the update to eFootball™ 2023, your in-game assets and other data will be carried over. Please kindly refer to the in-game announcement for information regarding the carryover process of in-game assets (eFootball™ Coins, GPs etc.) and other data."

This is good to hear, and it is a great way to keep the gaming community engaged in the franchise.

eFootball 2022 will not be releasing further updates until Spring 2022.

eFootball 2023 Master League

Those who know the Pro Evolution Soccer franchise will know of Master League. The game mode was hugely popular and was like a Career Mode as you were able to be the manager of a club. It was confirmed that eFootball 2023 would see Master League return to consoles and PC. This is the first time the game mode will be in eFootball, but fans will have to wait until 2023 for it to arrive.