This year’s FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC) 2017 is gaining far more attention than any previous year, and there’ll be a number of Brits taking part in the finals in London in August.
Following the FIWC Regional Final Europe, we now know 18 of the 32 set to take part in the event have been decided. Of these, five hail from Great Britain and six from Germany. The British contingent consists of Shaun ‘xShellzz’ Springette, Spencer ‘UniladGorilla’ Ealing, Tassal ‘HashtagTass’ Rushan, Ryan ‘xL_Ryan’ Pessoa and Christopher ‘TheeBullock’ Scott.
From Germany meanwhile there’ll be Mohammed ‘Mo_Aubameyang’ Harkous, Kai ‘Deto’ Wollin, Florian ‘CodyDerFinisher’ Müller, Tim ‘TheStrxngeR’ Katnawatos, Marcel ‘Marlut’ Lutz and Timo ‘TimoX’ Siep. When it comes to major football club’s representatives there’ll be TimoX of Wolfsburg though Schalke 04’s players fell short. STARK Esports Agency meanwhile will be well represented in London; the likes of CodyDerFinisher, Marlut and TimoX are all signed to the books.
Outside of these, other teams such as Ajax Esports’ Dani ‘AFCAjaxDani’ Hagebeuk made the grade, as did PSG’s Rafael ‘PSG Rafifa’ Fortes. Amongst contenders signed to well known esports orgs, Corentin ‘Vitality Rocky’ Chevrey and Millenium’s Johan ‘Maniika’ Simon will also be heading to London to compete, as will Andrei ‘Timon’ Gurev of Gambit Esports who made two 3,000km round trips from his home to Zurich and then Munich to qualify.
The remaining 14 slots for the grand finals of this year’s FIWC will be decided by the Regional Finals in the Rest of World (four slots), the Americas (eight slots), and the FIFA Interactive Club World Cup (two slots). The final 32 will then battle it out for the $200,000 (£157,000) prize money. Overall it is reported that over 6.5 million participants will have taken part in this competition.
Esports Insider says: We’re edging ever closer to the biggest event in the FIFA competitive calendar. The UK is well represented and as the event is coming to London, the players will be hoping home support plays into their hands. With over $200,000 on the line there’s a whole lot to play for.