FIFA, the world’s governing body of football, Electronic Arts Inc and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) today announced the official kick-off of the second phase of the 2010 FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC) online competition. This year’s FIWC season has been split into two phases to ensure that even more players have the opportunity to compete in the tournament.The first phase, which concluded on 18th December 2009, saw over 400,000 players from around the world compete online on EA Sports FIFA 10 on the PlayStation 3 (PS3), via PlayStation Network to secure the first 11 places at this year’s FIWC Grand Final, which will take place at Port Olympic in Barcelona on 1st May 2010.
The online leaderboard from the FIWC 2010 phase 1 has now been wiped clean, giving those players who weren’t able to participate or didn’t make it into the top ten another shot at claiming one of the remaining 11 online Grand Final spots*. To participate in the FIWC 2010 online, players can register directly inside the retail version of EA Sports FIFA 10 on PS3 from 5th January 2010 and start competing right away. Alternatively, live qualifier events for an additional nine Grand Final places will take place at:
Host Country Host City Date
Australia Sydney 9th – 11th April
Brazil Sao Paulo 27th March
France Paris 12th-14th March
Italy Milan March
Japan Tokyo 21st March
Denmark Copenhagen 13th March
Poland Warsaw 6th February
Russia Moscow 6th-8th November
South Africa Johannesburg 6th March
UK London March
Following the culmination of this year’s competition in Barcelona, the FIWC World Champion will be crowned officially at the FIFA World Player Gala 2010, a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet the real life football stars in person.
•For full FIWC 2010 tournament terms & conditions, please see www.fifa.com/fiwc