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The FIFAe World Cup, formerly the FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC) and the FIFA eWorld Cup, is an esports tournament series held by FIFA.[1] From its inception until 2023, the tournaments were held on the latest incarnation of the FIFA association football video game series. The open qualifying format for the tournament allowed millions to compete in the initial online stages,[2] which resulted in the FIWC being recognized as the largest online esports game by Guinness World Records.[3][4] Due to FIFA and EA Sports parting ways after the release of FIFA 23 and EA launching their own esports circuit known as EA Sports FC Pro for the EA Sports FC series, the FIFAe World Cup has shifted to a football-focused tournament series, with eFootball, Football Manager and Rocket League having tournaments in 2024.
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Game | FIFA (2004–2023) Football Manager (2024–present) Rocket League (2024–present) eFootball (2024–present) |
| Established | 2004 |
Number of tournaments | 17 |
| Administrator | FIFA |
| Format | Online |
| Website | fifa.gg |
| Most recent tournament | |
| 2024 FIFAe World Cup featuring Football Manager 2024 FIFAe World Cup featuring Rocket League 2024 FIFAe World Cup featuring eFootball | |
The last FIFAe World Cup champion from the FIFA series was Manuel Bachoore from the Netherlands. Ichsan Taufiq from Indonesia and Minbappe from Malaysia is the current champion from the Football Manager series in console and mobile respectively, while Saudi Arabia's Team Falcons are the current champions from the Rocket League series.
History
editThe inaugural FIWC took place in 2004 in Switzerland, over the years the tournament has grown significantly. In 2010, the FIWC first appeared in the Guinness World Records[3] – but it was not until 2013 that the competition saw the current record of more than 2.5 million players signing up.
On 1 October 2015, the FIWC 16 kicked off, marking the 12th edition of the tournament. For the first time in the history of the competition Xbox One and PlayStation 4 players competed against each other. With the integration of the new consoles the number of participants increased significantly, compared to previous years when the FIWC was only available on PlayStation 3. 2.3 million players attempted to qualify for the Grand Final in New York City. On 22 March 2016, Mohamad Al-Bacha from Denmark won the FIWC title in the Apollo Theater, beating Sean Allen from England in the final match.
In 2018, the FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC) was renamed to the FIFA eWorld Cup (FeWC). The 2018 Grand Finals was held between 2 August 2018 through 4 August 2018 in the O2 Arena in London, England. 32 finalists (16 on PlayStation 4 and 16 on Xbox One) competed in the group stage and round of 16 on 2 August 2018, with the second leg of the round of 16 and the quarterfinals taking place on 3 August 2018. The semi-finals and final took place on 4 August 2018.
In October 2020, the FIFA eWorld Cup was rebranded as the FIFAe World Cup as part of FIFA's launch of its FIFAe esports tournament series.[5]
Due to EA and FIFA not renewing their licensing agreement after FIFA 23, the 2023 FIFAe World Cup was the last edition involving EA's football video game series.[6] EA themselves announced a replacement tournament circuit known as EA Sports FC Pro to coincide with the series rebranding to EA Sports FC starting with EAFC 24, with its world championship known as the EA Sports FC Pro World Championship.[7]
On 23 June 2024, FIFA announced that the FIFAe World Cup would return that year with a Rocket League tournament, which consisted of national teams.[8] FIFA later announced on 27 June that the FIFAe World Cup would also feature a Football Manager tournament, officially known as the "FIFAe World Cup of Football Manager" (later the "FIFAe World Cup featuring Football Manager".[9] On 10 October, FIFA would announce a partnership with Konami that would see eFootball join the series.[10][11]
Results
editFIFA
edit| Year[12] | Dates | Host[13] | Winner (Gamer ID) [Console Bracket] | Finalist (Gamer ID) [Console Bracket] | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 19 December |  Zürich
|
 Thiago Carrico de Azevedo
|
 Matija Biljeskovic
|
2–1 |
| 2005 | 19 December |  London
|
Chris Bullard
|
 Gábor Mokos
|
5–2 |
| 2006 | 9 December |  Amsterdam
|
Andries Smit
|
 Wolfgang Meier
|
6–4 |
| 2008 | 24 May |  Berlin
|
 Alfonso Ramos
|
Michael Ribeiro
|
3–1 |
| 2009 | 2 May | Barcelona
|
 Bruce Grannec
|
 Ruben Morales Zerecero
|
3–1 |
| 2010 | 1 May |  Nenad Stojkovic
|
Ayhan Altundag
|
2–1 | |
| 2011 | 7–9 June | Los Angeles
|
 Francisco Cruz (Quinzas)
|
 Javier Munoz (Janoz)
|
4–1 |
| 2012 | 21–23 May |  Dubai
|
Alfonso Ramos
|
Bruce Grannec
|
0–0 (4–3. Penalty shoot-out) |
| 2013 | 6–8 May | Madrid
|
Bruce Grannec
|
Andrei Torres Vivero
|
1–0 |
| 2014 | 2–3 July | Rio de Janeiro
|
 August Rosenmeier (Agge)
|
David Bytheway (Davebtw)
|
3–1 |
| 2015 | 17–19 May | Munich
|
 Abdulaziz Alshehri (Mr D0ne) [PS4]
|
Julien Dassonville [Xbox One]
|
3–0 |
| 2016 | 20–22 March | New York City
|
Mohamad Al-Bacha (Bacha) [PS4][14]
|
Sean Allen (Dragonn) [Xbox One]
|
2–2, 3–3 (5–5 agg. Al-Bacha won on away goals) |
| 2017 | 16–18 August | London
|
Spencer Ealing (Gorilla) [Xbox One]
|
Kai Wollin (Deto) [PS4]
|
3–3, 4–0 (7–3 agg.) |
| 2018 | 2–3 August | Mosaad Al Dossary (MsDossary) [Xbox One]
|
 Stefano Pinna (StefanoPinna) [PS4]
|
2–0, 2–0 (4–0 agg.) | |
| 2019 | 2–4 August | Mohammed Harkous (MoAuba) [PS4]
|
Mosaad Aldossary (Msdossary) [Xbox One]
|
1–1, 2–1 (3–2 agg.) | |
| 2020 | Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
| ||||
| 2021 | |||||
| 2022 | 14–17 July | Copenhagen
|
Umut Gültekin (Umut)
|
 Nicolas Villalba (nicolas99fc)
|
0–0, 0–0 (0–0 agg. Umut won 5–4 on Penalty shoot-out) |
| 2023 | 16–19 July | Riyadh[a]
|
Manuel Bachoore (ManuBachoore)
|
 Mark Zakhary (Mark11)
|
2–2, 1–1 (3–3 agg. ManuBachoore won 5–4 on Penalty shoot-out) |
Football Manager
edit| Year | Dates | Host | Winner | Finalist | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 29 August–1 September | Liverpool
|
 Ichsan Taufiq (Miracle), Manager Manar Hidayat (wednesday), Assistant |
Sven Golly (Svonn), Manager Terry Whenett (FMZweierkette), Assistant |
3–0, 5–2 (8-2 agg.) |
eFootball - Console
edit| Year | Dates | Host | Winners | Finalists | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 9-12 December[15] | Riyadh
|
BINONGBOYS, SHNKS-ELGA, akbarpaudie |
GuiFera99, STS_Jvictor, ThiagoAvare10 |
2–1, 2–1 (4–2 agg.) |
eFootball - Mobile
edit| Year | Dates | Host | Winners | Finalists | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 9-12 December[15] | Riyadh
|
 MINBAPPE
|
 AN10_Tienes
|
3–0, 2–0 (5–0 agg.) |
Rocket League
edit| Year | Dates | Host | Winners | Finalists | Series score (Matches) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 5-8 December[15] | Riyadh
|
Yazid Bakhashwin (Kiileerrz), Saleh Bakhashwin (Rw9), Mohammed Alotaibi (trk511) |
Axel Touret (Vatira), Evan Rogez (M0nkeyM00n), Alexis Bernier (zen) |
1–4, 1–0, 1–0, 6–1, 3–2 (4–1 agg.) |
Summary
edit| Team | Titles | Runners-up | Top 2 total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia | 3 (2015, 2018, 2024b) | 1 (2019) | 4 |
| France | 2 (2009, 2013) | 3 (2012, 2015, 2024b) | 5 |
| Germany | 2 (2019, 2022) | 3 (2010, 2017, 2024a) | 5 |
| England | 2 (2005, 2017) | 2 (2014, 2016) | 4 |
| Netherlands | 2 (2006, 2023) | 2 | |
| Spain | 2 (2008, 2012) | 2 | |
| Denmark | 2 (2014, 2016) | 2 | |
| Indonesia | 2 (2024a, 2024d) | 2 | |
| Brazil | 1 (2004) | 1 (2024d) | 2 |
| Serbia | 1 (2010) | 1 | |
| Portugal | 1 (2011) | 1 | |
| Malaysia | 1 (2024c) | 1 | |
| USA | 2 (2004, 2008) | 2 | |
| Mexico | 2 (2009, 2013) | 2 | |
| Hungary | 1 (2005) | 1 | |
| Austria | 1 (2006) | 1 | |
| Colombia | 1 (2011) | 1 | |
| Belgium | 1 (2018) | 1 | |
| Argentina | 1 (2022) | 1 | |
| Australia | 1 (2023) | 1 | |
| Morocco | 1 (2024c) | 1 |
a: FIFAe World Cup featured Football Manager.
b: FIFAe World Cup featured Rocket Leagues.
c: FIFAe World Cup featured eFootball (mobile).
d: FIFAe World Cup featured eFootball (console).
Format
editFIFA
editOnline qualification
editThe FeWC online qualification took place on PlayStation and Xbox networks, and was accessed through the latest version of EA Sports FIFA on Xbox One and PS4. The players qualified via the console playoffs, where the top 16 players made it through to the eWorld Cup finals. Players could also qualify for the FeWC by competing in one of the FIFA Global Series tournaments throughout the season, with the top 16 at the last event automatically qualifying for the FeWC.
In the 2022 and 2023 editions, games were played on PlayStation 5 console only. 128 players were selected for the FIFA Global Series Playoffs, which included 74 via the Regional Global Series Rankings and 54 via Partner Leagues, such as eMLS and the Virtual Bundesliga.
Grand Finals
edit32 players competed at the Grand Finals of the FeWC. The participants were divided into four groups (two for each console) with the top 16 players moving on to the knockout stage. While the Group stage, Round of 16, Quarter-finals and Semi-finals were played on one console (Xbox One or PS4), the Final was a two-leg match with one game on each console. The Grand Final is a multi-day event with draw and competition being broken up into three days. The winner is crowned in a live show at the end of the event.
In the 2022 and 2023 editions, which were all exclusively played on the PS5, the Group Stage consisted of double round robin single-game groups. Before the 2022 edition, these were two-legged matches in a single round robin format.
World ranking
editIn 2016, the FIFA Interactive World Cup World Ranking was introduced to help seed the players in the tournament according to their previous results. The ranking took into account both the qualification phase for the then-current edition and previous FeWC Grand Finals.
eFootball
editQualification
editNational associations who participate are selected via already existing eFootball tournament results and the size of the eFootball player community in each nation (in 2024, 18 nations were invited to the tournament).[16][17] From there, all players who wish to qualify on console (exclusively on the PS4 and PS5) or on mobile must complete three rounds: Dream Team versus AI (in which players must win twice against the AI), Dream Team PVP (in which players must complete the third challenge) and Dream Team Ranking. The last 20 games played in the Dream Team Ranking round count towards the leaderboard. From there, the participating national associations may directly select the player(s) to represent their country or otherwise hold bootcamps or qualifying tournaments.
Football Manager
editQualification
editThe national associations that will participate in the FIFAe World Cup of Football Manager are invited based on how many players are actively playing that year's Football Manager. From there, each association may host qualifiers to determine who qualifies for the final event or invite players themselves. Each nation normally qualifies one player, while the host nation qualifies two players.
Main tournament
editThe 20 qualified players (as of the 2024 tournament) are put into five groups of 4 in the group stage. Each group is assigned a random club before the start of the group stage which all players will separately manage for three seasons, with the first day consisting of preparations and each day afterwards representing a season. The top player from each group after the last season, after receiving a score based on league position, cup results and other managerial duties, qualifies for the semi-finals. Players may also be eliminated if they are fired from their club before the end of the third season.
The semi-finals and final follow a fantasy draft format, in which each competitor selects 25 players based on an allocated talent pool and budget. From there, they compete in a single-elimination bracket consisting of two-legged semi-finals and a two-legged final to crown the champion.
Rocket League
editQualification
editThe 16 national teams that take part in the FIFAe World Cup are decided via the nationalities of the players that made up the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) Majors for that year, as well as active Rocket League playerbases. Once the national teams have been announced, players qualify for the tournament via winning their national association's qualifiers, thereby earning the right to represent their country.
Prize fund
edit
The FeWC 2018 champion, Mosaad Al Dossary, received $250,000 in prize money and a ticket to that year's edition of The Best FIFA Football Awards, where he had a chance to meet the greatest players in the real football world. FIWC 2015 Champion Abdulaziz Alshehri from Saudi Arabia was able to meet Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi among many others, while 2016 champion Mohammad Al-Bacha talked to Marcelo Vieira and Manuel Neuer. The runner-up received $50,000 in prize money.
The winner of the FIFAe World Cup 2023, the final edition held on the FIFA series of games, received $300,000 in prize money.
The 2024 FIFAe World Cup of Football Manager will consist of a $100,000 prize pool.[9]
Broadcast
editThe FeWC Grand Finals is streamed live on YouTube and Twitch. For the first time, the Final Showdown of the FIWC16 was also broadcast on TV and was shown in more than 100 countries around the world. Fox Sports 1 showed the Final live in the United States. The show was moderated by host Kay Murray. Former US footballer Alexi Lalas and Spencer Carmichael-Brown (Spencer FC) analyzed the matches, Leigh Smith and John Strong commentated the games. The trophy was handed over by former Spanish International David Villa.
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ This edition of the FIFAe World Cup was held during Riyadh's Gamers8 esports festival.
References
edit- ^ FIFA.com
- ^ "Fifae World Cup: Mosaad 'Msdossary' Aldossary wins 'dream' Grand Final". BBC Sport. 6 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
- ^ a b Guinness World Records (3 July 2014). "Watch live: Gamers battle out to win at record-breaking FIFA Interactive World Cup". Guinnessworldrecords.com. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ "FIFAe | Your legacy awaits". Archived from the original on 17 October 2020.
- ^ "FIFAe tournament season kicks off with new structure". FIFA. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
- ^ Arts, Electronic (8 May 2013). "EA & FIFA - Licensing Agreement Extended Until 2022". Electronic Arts Inc. Archived from the original on 6 September 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
- ^ "EA SPORTS FC™ 24 | Pitch Notes - Introducing EA SPORTS FC Pro". Electronic Arts. 4 August 2023. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
- ^ Bolding, Jonathan (23 June 2024). "FIFA will host an actual Rocket League world cup complete with national teams". PC Gamer. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
- ^ a b "FIFA to host Football Manager World Cup for $100k prize". ESPN. Reuters. 27 June 2024. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
- ^ "Following its EA split, FIFA is partnering with Konami for eSports". VGC. 10 October 2024. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
- ^ Coleman, Jack (10 October 2024). "FIFA Partners With Old Competitor Konami For eFootball Esports". TheGamer. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
- ^ "FIFA Interactive World Cup". FIFA. Archived from the original on 8 April 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ "FIFA Interactive World Cup 2015 - Destination". FIFA. Archived from the original on 28 August 2007. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ "FIFA Interactive World Cup: Mohamad Al-Bacha beats Sean Allen in final". Skysports.com.
- ^ a b c "FIFAe Finals 2024: All you need to know". www.fifa.gg. 25 November 2024. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
- ^ "FIFA cozies up to EA rival Konami for soccer esports". Engadget. 10 October 2024. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
- ^ Sepiol, Sam (10 October 2024). "FIFA Partners With Konami For The FIFAe World Cup". Insider Gaming. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
External links
edit- Official website, FIFA.gg (in English)