FIFA, along with Presenting Partners EA SPORTS and PlayStation, the start of the FIFA Interactive World Cup 2010 (FIWC10) season. The sixth edition of the world's largest football gaming tournament provides virtual athletes from around the globe the unique opportunity of competing in an official FIFA World Cup. The FIFA Interactive World Champion 2010 will be decided at the Grand Final in Barcelona, Spain on 1 May 2010, for which players can qualify online or at live qualifier events. The winner will receive USD 20,000 and "a money can't buy" experience of attending the FIFA World Player Gala, where they will mingle with the best football players in the world.
Source: FIFA.com
"More than half a million players vied for a spot in the Grand Final of last year's FIFA Interactive World Cup. This makes it the FIFA tournament with the most competitors," said Chuck Blazer, a member of the FIFA Executive Committee and the patron of the FIFA Interactive World Cup. "The FIWC is becoming more and more popular among all age groups and the great thing is that everybody can participate. Players can face each other whenever they want and wherever they are - this is truly unique."
Over the next seven months, thousands of players from around the world will compete against each other on EA SPORTS™ FIFA 10 on PlayStation®3 online or at one of the ten live qualifier events that will be held across the globe in Australia, Brazil, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Poland, Russia, South Africa and the UK. For the first time ever, the online qualification will be split into two separate seasons, with the first season running from 2 October through to 18 December 2009, and the second season running from 4 January through to 31 March 2010. In addition, there will be 21 Grand Final spots up for grabs in the online qualifiers as a result of a staggering 515,000 entrants last year.
Players interested in participating in either the online qualifiers or one of the live qualifier events will find all information on how to register as well as in-depth reports and stories around the tournament on the official website, www.fifa.com/FIWC.
"With the real-life football season already underway, FIFA fans the world over are itching to show off their skills in this year's FIFA Interactive World Cup tournament and they won't be disappointed," said Matt Bilbey, VP Marketing, EA SPORTS. "The FIFA development team in Vancouver has worked incredibly hard to give players the most authentic football gaming experience ever with FIFA 10."
"The FIFA Interactive World Cup 2009 was a truly incredible tournament, with over half a million people competing, many of which via PlayStation Network," said Darren Carter, VP for Brand and Consumer Marketing, SCEE (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd). "The FIWC is a great example of what can happen when you take one of the world's best-selling games, mix it together with the world's favourite games console and open it up to the community. We are very excited about this year's tournament and wish everybody competing the best of luck."
The 31 players to successfully qualify for the Grand Final via the live qualifier events (10) and the online qualifiers (21) will come up against last year's FIWC champion - Bruce Grannec from France who has automatically qualified for the Grand Final and will be aiming to become the first player to retain his title.
