Lagos is now on Konami’s official list of cities where eFootball game servers are installed, sitting under the Europe/Africa region alongside Johannesburg, Istanbul, Athens, London and Frankfurt on the publisher’s Online PvP Setup for eFootball page. For Nigerian players who’ve spent years fighting lag on servers thousands of kilometres away, it’s the change many have been asking for.
Having a server in Lagos doesn’t mean every match you play will now run through it, though. Konami’s own explanation of how online matches work shows that the game decides which server to use, and some modes don’t use game servers at all. Here’s what the Lagos server actually changes, which modes benefit, and how to check whether your matches are getting the improvement.
Only some eFootball modes will ever touch the Lagos server
eFootball uses two different ways to connect you to an opponent online. In peer-to-peer (P2P) matches, your phone or console connects directly to your opponent’s, so the match quality depends on both of your connections. In client-server matches, both players connect to a Konami game server, which manages the match, and Konami says this stops one player’s poor connection or slow device from affecting the other.
Game servers such as the one in Lagos are only used in client-server modes. Konami says it uses client-server for modes where results matter most, to keep connections stable and prevent cheating, which is why ranked play falls on that side of the list.
| Mode | Connection method | Can use the Lagos server? |
|---|---|---|
| eFootball League | Client-server | Yes |
| Challenge Event | Client-server | Yes |
| Challenge Event (Penalty Shootout only) | P2P | No |
| Ranking Event | Client-server | Yes |
| Themed Event | Client-server | Yes |
| Strike Arena | Client-server | Yes |
| Friend Match (Co-op Match Room) | Client-server | Yes |
| Friend Match (1 vs 1 Match Room only) | P2P | No |
| Quick Match | P2P | No |
| Source: Konami, Online PvP Setup for eFootball | ||
If most of your online time goes into Quick Match or 1 vs 1 friend games with your guys, your experience will still come down to your own connection and your opponent’s. The Lagos server makes the biggest difference in eFootball League and events, where every result counts.
You can’t pick Lagos yourself, and that’s by design
Konami’s page says eFootball selects optimal game servers after looking at factors such as where opponents are located and infrastructure conditions. So when you’re matched with another player in Nigeria, a server close to both of you makes sense, but a match against someone in Europe may still be hosted somewhere between you.
Konami also says distance isn’t the only factor. Depending on network infrastructure, a server farther away can sometimes give a better connection than a closer one, which means the route your MTN, Airtel, Glo or T2 data takes matters as much as where the server sits. The publisher adds that it balances the number of servers against how long matchmaking takes, because spreading players across too many servers makes it harder to find opponents quickly.
Watch the antenna to know how your connection is really doing
You don’t need guesswork to see whether the eFootball Lagos server is helping your matches. During online matches in client-server modes, eFootball shows an antenna icon that displays the quality of your connection to the game server in real time. Your opponent sees their own antenna, so the level on their screen can differ from yours.
After each of those matches, the game shows a network graph of how your connection changed across the match. Time runs along the bottom and connection quality runs up the side, and Konami says higher values mean a more stable match. If your graph keeps dipping, the problem is on the connection between you and the server, and that’s something you can work on.
Play a few eFootball League matches at your usual time and check the graph each time. If it stays high and steady, you’re getting a stable connection. If it drops at the same hour every evening, network congestion is the likely cause rather than the server.
Konami’s own fixes for an unstable connection
Konami lists a handful of countermeasures to try when the connection isn’t stable, while noting that they aren’t guaranteed to work because many factors affect quality. Close apps running in the background before you start a match, and avoid using a microwave or other devices that give off radio waves near your Wi-Fi.
If you’re on Wi-Fi, keep other people on the same network from streaming or downloading large files while you play, and stay as close as you can to the Wi-Fi router without moving around during the match. On PlayStation or Xbox, Konami recommends connecting with a wired LAN cable rather than Wi-Fi.
Most Nigerian players are on mobile data, though, and that brings its own problems, from evening tower congestion to phones jumping between 4G and 5G mid-match. Our guide to lowering gaming ping on MTN, Airtel, Glo and T2 walks through choosing the steadiest SIM, locking your phone to 4G and testing at the hours you actually play.
Lagos joins a growing list of Nigerian game servers
eFootball isn’t the first major mobile game to bring servers closer to Nigerian players. “Call of Duty: Mobile” switched on its dedicated Nigeria server in December 2023, and “PUBG Mobile” now lets players choose between African and global matchmaking. With eFootball now listing Lagos too, Nigerian players of all three games have servers much closer to home than Europe.
To get the most from it, spend your competitive time in client-server modes like eFootball League and events, keep an eye on the antenna and post-match graph, and sort out your own connection before blaming the server. A server in Lagos gives Nigerian players a fairer chance in the matches that count most, and you can see how eFootball compares with other favourites in our list of the most played mobile games in Nigeria.
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