Update: The next six clubs have since been announced. These are West Ham, VfL Wolfsburg, Olympique Lyonnais, Heracles, Sporting C.P. and PSV Eindhoven
FIFA will launch the first edition of the Interactive Club World Cup (FICWC) competition in
London on August 5th.
The Interactive Club World Cup will see 19 professional football clubs with esports divisions battle it out for the remaining two places at the Grand Final of the FIFA Interactive Club World Cup (FIWC). The FIWC will itself take place in London in August 16-18. The first six clubs that have been announced to take are PSG, Schalke, Man City, Brondby, Sampdoria and Valencia.
There will be another 13 clubs announced in due course, and 24 players representing these 19 will take part in the first FICWC. As in all the previous FIWC 2017 live qualification events, the players will be split into two divisions: PS4 and Xbox One. Each division will consist of two groups of six players. The top two in each group will progress to the divisional semi-final. The semi-finals and final for each division will be played over two legs. The PlayStation division champion and the Xbox division champion will each receive a qualification seat at the FIWC 2017 Grand Final.
The winner of this year’s FIWC will receive close to $200,000 (£153,000) in prize money, which is a huge increase on the same tournament last year. The winner will also receive an invitation to The Best FIFA Football Awards where they will have the opportunity to meet the best football players in the world.
The FIFA space is a fascinating one to look at in esports right now, its scene remains relatively small in comparison with numerous other titles but regardless a number of major football clubs have now entered, and more seem set to do so. Last week saw VfB Stuttgart become the third Bundesliga club sign two FIFA players, and there’ll undoubtedly be more with the forthcoming launch of the latest version of the EA title.
What we expect to see is more English clubs get involved, and we’ve an eye on Liverpool FC making a splash in esports generally at some point soon especially now Peter Moore (ex-EA Sports Competitive Gaming Division lead) is the club’s CEO.
As for the FIWC, Esports Insider will be in attendance on the 19th and we look forward to seeing the best of the best in FIFA battle it out.
Esports Insider says: As more football clubs add FIFA esports divisions it’s inevitable that this FICWC is likely to grow year on year. As more domestic leagues such as the Dutch E-Divisie pop up too, the hope is that this will get evermore competitive too.
