Professional soccer teams enter the FIFA Ultimate QuaranTeam Cup

The downtime across the world of soccer has left many of the sports biggest stars twiddling their thumbs. In a bid to improve engagement between the clubs and their fans, a social media campaign was launched to create an eSports competition for teams played on FIFA 20. English League Two club Leyton Orient were the brains behind the FIFA Ultimate QuaranTeam Cup, inviting clubs across the globe to take part via their Twitter shout-out.

Initially, the event was proposed to be a 64-team knockout tournament, but following bigger than expected interest the cup was expanded to a massive 128-team competition.

Teams from all four corners of the globe have got involved, from Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory in Australia through to the Orlando City in the US. The first round of the competition was scheduled to be played by March 22, with the event culminating in the final scheduled from April 3.

An eSports tournament with charitable fundraising at its core

The tournament is to be played on PS4 only, with one knockout game to be played per round. In the event of a draw, teams must stage a replay immediately afterwards. The event, which is designed to raise funds for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fundraiser by the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as the Mind charity, has seen a string of professional soccer players put themselves forward to represent their teams.

Promising midfielder Todd Cantwell represented Norwich City in their first-round game and helped the Canaries through to the second round by defeating Fleetwood Town and their supporter Liam Platt.

Some teams have opted to take things even more seriously by securing the services of eSports professionals to represent them. Sheffield Wednesday have their very own professional eSports gamer in the shape of Delee, who is also a season ticket holder at Hillsborough.

Several other teams were represented by eSports pros too including French outfit Angers (IFY Sneaky). Many of the leading eSports betting sites have been running markets on each individual match-up. This is partly due to the lack of actual live sporting action, but also a sign of the growing popularity of eSports both as a spectator event and as a niche to bet on.

eSports pro suffers shock defeat in second round

Sheffield Wednesday were installed as the event’s early favorites given the booking of Delee for their team. However, after breezing through his first-round game, Delee was dumped out of the competition in the next stage by Dutch side, FC Groningen, throwing the tournament wide open in the process. Manchester City, which currently runs its very own eSports team, are sure to be fighting hard for the title.

All matches are being streamed live on Twitch wherever possible, and it is clear that soccer fans across the globe are warmly embracing the chance to watch some live action – even if it may be virtual rather than on grass. Several thousand supporters tuned in to watch Walsall’s victory over AS Roma – a result that would be highly unlikely in real life!

Competitive FIFA gaming has become an increasingly popular spectator sport. EA, the producer of the much-loved FIFA franchise, confirmed that the FIFA 19 Global Series competition had 61 million total views, representing a 25% year-on-year rise. The Global Series incorporated the launch of the inaugural eChampions League as well as the FIFA eNations Cup.

Brent Koning, competitive gaming commissioner for FIFA, said that the Global Series “elevates our connection to the traditional sport”, whilst giving talented gamers the chance to pit their wits against the very best FIFA players on the planet.