EA Sports, the manufacturer of the FIFA video game franchise, announced Monday morning that Atlanta United has been selected as one of the Top 20 FIFA teams in the world, as part of their Masters program.
The Five Stripes will be the only MLS organization represented in the newly created EA Sports Cup, a three-month long event that sees the best gamers in the planet compete as a team head-to-head on a weekly basis in-person, in London. Starting on October 17th, the 20 teams will be competing for a share of the $250,000 prize pool.
The tournament will also kick-off the 2023 FIFA Global Series (FGS) season, following the launch of the FIFA 23 video game on Friday, Sept. 20.
Teams will face off against each other in four groups of five teams playing in a Double Round Robin format with the top 2 teams in each group advancing to the knockout stage. The knockout stage will consist of a Single Elimination Bracket, with the two finalists advancing automatically to the FIFAe Club World Cup.
Atlanta United is only one of the five world football clubs to be selected among these Top 20, along with Dutch giants Ajax, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig's esports team. The rest of the teams are fully-dedicated eSports organizations. The groups for the EA Sports Cup will be announced by EA Sports at a later date:
TEAM |
ORGANIZATION |
LOCATION |
|---|---|---|
AFC Ajax |
Football Club |
Amsterdam, NED |
Atlanta United |
Football Club |
Atlanta, USA |
Blue United eFC* |
Sports Agency |
New York, USA |
Complexity Gaming |
eSports Organization |
Frisco, USA |
DUX Gaming |
eSports Organization |
Madrid, ESP |
EXCEL |
eSports Organization |
London, UK |
Team Falcons |
eSports Organization |
Saudi Arabia |
FNATIC |
eSports Organization |
London, UK |
FOKUS |
eSports Organization |
Germany |
Team FUTWIZ |
eSports Organization |
United Kingdom |
Guild eSports** |
eSports Organization |
London, UK |
Team Heretics |
eSports Organization |
Spain |
Manchester City eSports |
Football Club |
Manchester, ENG |
MGCF eSports |
eSports Organization |
Brazil |
MKERS |
eSports Organization |
Italy |
PSG eSports |
Football Club |
Paris, FRA |
RBLZ Gaming |
Football Club |
Leipzig, GER |
Movistar Riders |
eSports Organization |
Madrid, ESP |
SPQR Brasil Team |
eSports Organization |
Brazil |
TG.NIP*** |
eSports Organization |
Sweden & Netherlands |
* Blue United eFC has a partnership with Manchester City
** Guild eSports is co-owned by David Beckham
*** TG.NIP is a partnership between two eSports organizations: Ninjas in Pyjamas and Team Gullit, which also has a development partnership with Atlanta United.
It's the second year in a row for Atlanta United as a Masters team.
This year, Atlanta United's gamer Paulo Neto reached the quarterfinals of the FIFAe World Cup, one of the three World Cup competitions by EA Sports and FIFA, the others being the FIFAe Club World Cup and the FIFAe Nations World Cup. Watch below a documentary chronicling the journey of Paulo Neto during the tournament in Copenhagen, Denmark back in July.
