FIFA 19’s esports season is getting in gear this weekend as EA Sports hosts the game’s first edition of the FUT Champions Cup in Bucharest, Romania.
There will be 64 of the world’s best players travelling to Eastern Europe between November 30 and December 2 for the first dual-console live event of the season, with 1,500 Global Series points available to the winner.
That is the most any FIFA 19 tournament has offered so far after Epsilon’s Joksan Redona won 850 points at the PlayStation Continental Cup during Paris Games Week.
Joksan will want to keep his excellent early form going but faces an uphill struggle considering some of the other names he will have to face.
F2’s Donovan ‘Tekkz’ Hunt is considered one of the world’s best players at the moment as the youngster repeatedly tops the Xbox leaderboards. However, live events are a completely different animal so it will be fascinating to see if he can replicate that same form.
Also competing are FIFA Interactive World Cup champion Spencer ‘Gorilla’ Ealing and his former coach Sean ‘Dragon’ Allen who recently signed for Leicester City defender Christian Fuchs and his esports team, No Fuchs Given.
Also representing a Premier League footballer will be Pedro Resende who plays for Mesut Ozil’s M10 Esports.
Experienced Argentine Nicolas ‘Nicolas99fc’ Villalba will be looking to dominate once again and FUT Champions Bucharest will be his first live event representing FC Basel.
Presenting the tournament will be Hashtag United owner and FIFA YouTuber Spencer Owen and retired MLS defender Jimmy Conrad.
On commentary will be the usual duo of Brandon Smith and Richard Buckley as well as experienced head Joe Miller, while rounding up the broadcast team are presenters Rachel Stringer and Kyle Walker as well as pro players Mike Labelle and Ivan ‘Boras Legend’ Lapanje.