FIFAe, the esports competition held by soccer’s world governing body, has partnered with car soccer video game Rocket League to announce the first-ever FIFAe World Cup this year featuring the game following FIFA’s split with EA Sports.
FIFA and EA Sports, the division of the Electronic Arts video game giant that produces sports titles, ended their major partnership after 30 years in 2023.
EA Sports stopped producing the FIFA game, which had been one of the most profitable franchises in video game history, generating a reported $20 billion in sales over the last two decades, at which point FIFA said it would now release its own video games. However, the body has so far not managed to release a competitor to EA Sports’ FC series.
This new competition marks the first time since FIFA started its involvement with esports that it will not have an official tournament in a soccer game, with Rocket League being only very loosely based on the sport, and with FIFA not having chosen to not replace EA’s FIFA series (now called EA FC) with its direct competitor, Konami’s eFootball.
The new national teams' tournament will be the official FIFA esports competition for the foreseeable future, with the 2023 FIFAe World Cup being the last to feature the FIFA game series.
The new tournament will involve sixteen nations competing against each other made up of three players and one substitute.
The nations taking part will be selected based on where the game’s player base is located as well as based on previous performances of players from the countries.
Participating member associations will host their own qualification tournaments to find the best players to represent them at the FIFAe World Cup.
Christian Volk, director of eFootball and gaming at FIFA, has said: “The FIFAe World Cup featuring Rocket League marks a new era for FIFAe, providing a groundbreaking platform for FIFA’s member associations to compete on one of the most relevant esports titles.
“This milestone partnership highlights our commitment to evolve our football esports ecosystem and continue to build the biggest stages for all communities to fame their game.”
