We demand that KONAMI remove SMART ASSIST from eFootball! This "gameplay assistance system", which was supposedly designed mainly to help new players begin their journey with eFootball, has now become a serious problem, especially in PvP Divisions 1–3.

This is because SMART ASSIST not only corrects a player’s shots, passes, dribbling, and almost the entire defensive gameplay, but it also negatively affects the gameplay of opponents who play without SMART ASSIST!  What happens to your team and players when you face SMART ASSIST users? Here are several examples based on many hours of experience playing against SMART ASSIST users in comparison to matches against "manual players", as well as on the observations and experiences of other players, streamers, and eFootball content creators:

• your players are noticeably slower than usual,
• your players move heavily on the pitch, they dribble sluggishly and turn more slowly with the ball,
• It takes longer time than usual for your players to control the ball,
• your players often trap the ball and do extra touches in situations where you choose to play a one-touch passes,
• your players lose direct duels and aerial battles far more often than usual,
• positioning of your players on the pitch is disastrous,
• your passes and shots become noticeably less accurate,
• your shots hit the bar and posts far more often than usual, especially when you do the finese shots with your "blitz curler" players,
• loose balls and deflections almost always fall perfectly to your opponent’s feet, as if their players can magically attract the ball, 
• defending, which is already difficult enough against "manual" players, becomes a complete nightmare when facing players with SMART ASSIST,
• your defenders lose most physical and pace battles, and you are unable to intercept most of your opponent’s passes despite good positioning and your good anticipation.
• the ball often magically slips right past your defenders even when you do everything possible to intercept it,
• the match-up button becomes practically useless, and using the pressing button is almost suicidal when playing against SMART ASSIST.

Ring a bell?

I bet it does... 

When facing the SMART ASSIST user in eFootball, it does not matter that you have a much stronger squad, full of the best epic and legendary cards — SMART ASSIST doesn't care. Your opponent can have a far weaker team and still compete with you on equal terms, because  “SMART ASSIST has been designed to make the game easy and enjoyable for users of this "feature", as this increases the chances that they’ll stay with the game longer — and perhaps even start spending money on it. KONAMI doesn't care that you have already spend a lot of money to build your perfect dream team and now you demand fair fair competition.  They only want more gamers and more money and they're not even trying to hide it! Right now, even highly skilled ‘manual’ players who regularly compete in division 1 are struggling against far less skilled division 2 or even Division 3 players due to the increasing abuse of SMART ASSIST in recent months. And they’re speaking out about it. 

The problem becomes even larger because even high skilled players, increasingly and in many cases cynically, turn on SMART ASSIST to make their gameplay easier and nicer and to gain an advantage over "manual" players to climb faster and higher in the pvp division one ranking. Meanwhile, some players enable SMART ASSIST simply because they want to feel that they once again can compete on fair terms with others. That's simply sad. 

At the other hand, SMART ASSIST is enabled by default when the game is launched for the first time, and many new players don't even realize that they play with that massive gameplay assistance enabled. SMART ASSIST does not encourage players — especially beginners — to actually learn the game, because SMART ASSIST is a powerful gameplay aid that automatically corrects the vast majority of your actions during a match. For example, if SMART ASSIST evaluates that your low pass may be intercepted, it automatically changes it into a lofted pass. If  you shoots on goal and SMART ASSIST evaluates that a finesse shot or a stunning shot is more effective, it automatically changes the shot type for you. The same applies to passes, both low and lofted. SMART ASSIST also corrects and helps with positioning of your players on the pitch. It can even take control of your defenders and change their movement direction if it evaluates that their movement to win back the ball is not as good as it should be.

THERE IS NO REAL LEARNING FROM YOUR OWN MISTAKES WITH SMART ASSIST TURNED ON, BECAUSE SMART ASSIST AUTOMATICALLY CORRECTS YOUR POTENTIAL ERRORS DURING THE MATCH.

AND THAT IS WHY WE BELIEVE THAT, IN LIGHT OF ALL THE FACTS DESCRIBED ABOVE, THERE WE CAN NO LONGER TALK ABOUT FAIR COMPETITION IN THE PVP DIVISIONS.

Besides all that, it is also worth mentioning that KONAMI itself confirmed that SMART ASSIST undermines fair pvp competition by disabling SMART ASSIST in all pvp tournaments. DOESN’T THAT SPEAK FOR ITSELF?

At present, SMART ASSIST simply ruins the competitive experience of eFootball in pvp divisions. Therefore, as a community of eFootball players, WE DEMAND the fastest possible solution to this problem through the complete removal of SMART ASSIST from eFootball or at the very least disabling this assistance in PvP competition in Divisions 1–3.

We believe that the player matchmaking filter announced by KONAMI for searching players with or without SMART ASSIST will not solve the problem and may even create additional negative consequences — namely that finding an opponent with SMART ASSIST DISABLED may take much longer than it does now. Furthermore, we believe that if a SMART ASSIST filter is introduced, there should also be two completely separate pvp rankings: one ranking for SMART ASSIST users and another for players who do not use this undair assistance. Why should highly skilled “manual” players be placed in the same ranking as SMART ASSIST users? It makes absolutely no sense! 

And once again - KONAMI should also remember that many players invest their hard-earned money into eFootball by purchasing virtual currency (eFootball Coins) to gain access to the best players, constantly improve their squads, and collect epic or legendary cards of their favorite footballers. Many players spend real money on eFootball specifically to improve the quality of their teams, take advantage of the unique abilities of epic and legendary players, and use all of this in the fight for the highest ranking positions.

As a result, a large number of highly skilled eFootball players are frustrated by situations in which they cannot compete fairly against players who compensate for their lack of skill not by learning from their mistakes, but through that massive gameplay assistance provided by SMART ASSIST. And finally, we also cannot forget about new players who genuinely want to learn “manual” gameplay but become discouraged after facing players who use SMART ASSIST.

THE SMART ASSIST PROBLEM HAS NOW BECOME THE MAIN TOPIC OF MANY EFOOTBALL LIVE STREAMS, AS WELL AS A SUBJECT FREQUENTLY DISCUSSED BY CONTENT CREATORS IN THE VIDEOS AND MATERIALS THEY PUBLISH ACROSS VARIOUS PLATFORMS.

SMART ASSIST HAS ALSO BECOME THE MAIN SUBJECT OF MANY DEBATES AND ARGUMENTS AMONG ORDINARY PLAYERS ACROSS SOCIAL MEDIA, VARIOUS FORUMS, AND OTHER ONLINE COMMUNITIES.

However, KONAMI itself has remained consistently silent on this issue since February 2026, when a vague mention of plans to introduce a SMART ASSIST filter during the summer of this year appeared in an eFootball Connect presentation. Do you really believe in it?

But to wrap this up... 

THE SMART ASSIST PROBLEM EXISTS AND IS VERY REAL, AS SHOWN BY THE GROWING OUTCRY WITHIN THE EFOOTBALL COMMUNITY — INCLUDING TOP PLAYERS AND EFOOTBALL CONTENT CREATORS ACROSS VARIOUS PLATFORMS.

THAT IS WHY WE SAY: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! WE DEMAND QUICK AND EFFECTIVE ACTION TO ELIMINATE THE SMART ASSIST PROBLEM FROM OUR BELOVED GAME, EFOOTBALL.

SO IF YOU LOVE eFOOTBALL AND WANT A RETURN OF FAIR COMPETITION IN PVP DIVISIONS AS IT WAS BEFORE THE INTRODUCTION OF SMART ASSIST,

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION!

KONAMI HAS TO HEAR OUR VOICE!

STOP SMART ASSIST!

STOP UNFAIR COMPETITION!