Cairo, 2021. The PlayStation 5 is a scalper’s trophy. FIFA 22 (now EA Sports FC) is pushing hyper-motion technology. Yet, in the back rooms of internet cafes in Casablanca, on chipped PSPs in Riyadh, and on emulators running on cheap Android phones in Baghdad, a different football match is kicking off.
It is Pro Evolution Soccer 2013. And the crowd is losing its mind.
But the real magic isn’t the dated polygons or the stiff animations. It’s the voice coming out of the tinny speaker: The Arabic Commentary Patch.
On the surface, it makes no sense. By 2021, the PlayStation Portable was a dead platform (discontinued in 2014). FIFA had moved to Frostbite. PES had rebranded to eFootball. Yet, in the dark corners of Egyptian and Saudi tech forums, a niche community was meticulously stitching Arabic audio files into a 9-year-old game.
Why PES 2013 specifically?
The 2021 version is not an official Konami release. It is a fan-made mod that extracts audio files from newer PES titles (like PES 2017 or 2020 on PC/PS4) that feature official Arabic commentary, converts them, and injects them into the PSP’s .cpk audio archives.
The "2021" label typically indicates:
Even with the 2021 update, you might face glitches:
| Issue | Solution |
| :--- | :--- |
| No sound during matches | Your audio plugin (e.g., CXMB) might be conflicting. Disable custom themes. |
| Commentary switches to English mid-game | The patch is likely missing the 2nd half audio layer. Redownload a more stable 2021 build. |
| Game freezes at kickoff | This is a buffer error. Use PSP ISO Compressor to convert the ISO to a CSO (compressed) with level 9 compression. |
| Player names not called | The 2021 patch sometimes only includes top leagues (EPL, La Liga, Saudi League). Lower league players will be generic. |