How to become a journalist participate in a mobile game tournament and become a famous football player in Indonesia.
At the beginning of 2026, we head to Jakarta, where this year's seventh World Championship will take place. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang — M7 Tournament, which brings together the strongest teams from around the world. The Indonesian capital has become the epicenter of mobile esports in a matter of weeks: sold-out arenas, tens of thousands of online spectators and fierce competition for titles.
The Russian team competes in the main stage of the tournament Team spirit. If not Virtus.pro The road to the world championship ended earlier – the team stopped in qualifying and failed to reach the main M7 stage.
What is Jakarta like?
Jakarta is home to kind people, spicy food, skyscrapers and most importantly for us, a great love for Mobile Legends and football.
Flying to Asia for the first time in my life, I was afraid that the difference in psychology and perception of life might be too great. However, I was surprised by the complete “intelligent” silence on the plane and the incredible hospitality. The flight turned out to be very long: first from Moscow to Dubai – five and a half hours, then from Dubai to Jakarta – about eight hours. Taking into account the waiting time in Dubai (five hours), the journey takes around 18 hours.
On arrival we were greeted with all the Asian honors: everything you need will be done. The comfort of the trip is especially felt when you are in a pleasant group of organizers on behalf of MOONTON Games and fellow journalists.
Outside, the city resembles an urban jungle – palm trees literally grow along the roads.
The first two days are sightseeing days. We tried exotic fruits and unusually spicy foods, which aren't considered extreme by locals – we always ordered dishes that were low in spiciness but still very spicy. It's scary to imagine how spicy the indigenous people are.
The fruits surprised me, and the fresh juices completely surprised me. For example, have you ever heard of soursop? I'm not.
Until a trip to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, where I first had the opportunity to try this fruit at the age of 22. According to Indonesians, soursop has antioxidant properties, helping the body fight viruses and strengthen the immune system. Plus, it's incredibly delicious and the freshly squeezed juice from it can be completely addictive.
MLBB in Indonesia
Mobile Legends is one of the main eSports in Asia. You understand this as soon as you start playing on the MLBB Asia server: you obviously don't know how to play. For Indonesia, MLBB here is like “Contra” or “Dota”. For example, if you've played Dota 2, then you at least understand the basics of the genre, however, when you have a total of about 100 hours of MOBA play, all you can do is endure dozens of hours of teeth-gnashing humiliation or simply run away.
About every second people in this country know about Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is a truly revered sport. Indonesian people are very friendly, calm and respect personal boundaries.
Football is also a cult here. I didn't even imagine that the Indonesian championship always attracts stadiums – at least 10 thousand spectators per match.
I even caught the attention of my fans by posting a short video of the ball being cast on social media. Previously, I noted in the comments the main club of the capital – “Persiju”, after which the video quickly went viral.
History of millions of views
After the tennis ball casting video went viral, the fun began. People started writing comments that I was a new player and a potential signing for the capital team. They started inviting me to watch a Persija home match, and I decided to go, making in front of a banner that said “Try me Persija”.
I went to the stadium with this sign and showed it to everyone, including the club's staff area. Fans started filming me on their phones—literally every third one. Many people turned their cameras from the scene to me. Soon they started sending me photos from the TV broadcast of the match.
The clip received more than 5 million views on local social networks.
However, the game was over and no one approached me – neither to get in touch nor to make an offer to watch. Even though I know for sure that everyone in the club has seen me.
After the match, many people took pictures with me. One of them pointed out to me Indonesian football legend Bamban Pamuncas, who had just left the stadium. We talked, he contacted me and promised to help.
From soccer to MLBB
Then I changed my Championship t-shirt to an MLBB t-shirt, cosplayed as Bruno, one of the Mobile Legends heroes, and went to the MLBB festival. This is an entertainment area where spectators watch World Cup matches and participate in many different activities.
On the basketball court, I recorded a video of myself kicking the ball into the basket.
And then, when he met a famous cosplayer with 7 million subscribers Myrtle, he shot a joint video.
The very next day, the people in charge of MOONTON Games approached me in the media room and offered to shoot a series of videos exclusively for the M7. This is how the video of the confrontation between Gatotkachi and Bruno on the football field appeared, as well as joint publication on the official Mobile Legends channels.
The poster was redesigned, replacing the soccer team with the MLBB team. After departure Team spirit I started cheering for Alter Ego, supporting the team in the stands with the fans. The publications collected a total of about 200 thousand likes.
How was Team Spirit's performance?
At the tournament Team spirit passed the Swiss group stage with a score of 3-2 and entered the top 8. However, in the first stage of the playoffs, the team lost to SRG and had to be relegated to the lower division.
Switzerland's match went as follows: victory over Singapore's Demons (1-0); lost to SRG Malaysia (1-1); victory over ONIC from Indonesia (2-1); lost to Aurora Philippines (2-2); won against CFU Gaming from Cambodia (3-2) and reached the top 8.
In the lower playoff round, Spirit lost to future finalists Alter Ego 1:3 and ended their run at the World Championship Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. But this is still an excellent result considering that only Asian teams are always in the top and Spirit is the strongest outside of SEA.
As a result, a fifth or sixth place is certainly a step back for the team: two years ago the team was consistently in the top four.
Last M7 on MLBB
In the M7 finals, Alter Ego and Philippine Aurora Gaming PH met. For Indonesian fans, the last match day in Jakarta was a real holiday because Alter Ego is the Indonesian team.
It all ended incredibly quickly: Aurora confidently won with a score of 4:0. Although this was to some extent predictable, because all previous MLBB World Championships, with the exception of one tie, were won by teams from the Philippines.
However, the final match turned out to be extremely exciting: sold out crowd, loud cheers from the stands and what felt like a great sporting event.
The tournament was bright and exciting, and the trip to Indonesia was unforgettable. Additionally, you can also watch my interview where I talk more about fame in Indonesia.
This was how the “Championship” trip to Jakarta for the MLBB M7 World Championship unfolded: eventful, surprising and truly memorable. The tournament brings many emotions – both in eSports and beyond. Perhaps this is just the beginning of the story and there is much more to come.
