FIFA 18 eWorld Cup Qualifiers Kick off This Week
This year's FIFA is "an improvement in every area," so reckons Tom Hatfield in his review. And with improvements in mind, developer EA Sports is this year reworking its FIFA Interactive World Cup, replacing it with the Road to the FIFA eWorld Cup event. The tournament's qualifiers begin on November 3.
With a new name and new format, the FIFA eWorld Cup begins on Friday with qualifiers for the Global Series. Through this, 128 top-ranked competitors will then progress to the Global Series Playoffs, and then battle it out for a place in the Grand Final. That's in August of next year.
"The showpiece. The main event," says EA of the Grand Finale. "The place where stars are made and careers launched. The FIFA eWorld Cup Grand Final will ensure a celebration of EA Sports FIFA at the highest level. Thirty two of the world’s best players, all of whom will have survived the global series, will compete to crown the undisputed king of FIFA at the Grand Final."
Through a series of tournaments over the next several months, through into 2018, players will be looking to compete for one of 128 spots in the Global Series Playoffs (64 players on PS4, 64 players on Xbox One), with 32 then moving forward to the FIFA eWorld Cup 2018 Grand Final taking place later in 2018.
To qualify, players will be ranked on FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) Champions Weekend League performance online and through live tournaments that will be taking place. Two of those tournaments will be the FIFA Ultimate Team Champions Cups, held in January and April, with the FIFA eClub World Cup, which is aimed at players signed to professional teams, and smaller third-party tournaments also counting towards who can qualify.
The FIFA 18 Global Series Playoffs take place in June 2018, and the date or window for the FIFA eWorld Cup 2018 Grand Final is yet to be announced.
For winning the tournament, the victor will be crowned the FIFA 18 World Champion, with both the FUT Champions Cups and Global Series Playoffs offering cash prizes, with $22,000 awarded to anyone who wins a FUT Champions and $35,000 going to the winner of each Global Series Playoff.
