The Premier League and EA have teamed up once again to launch the third season of the ePremier League.
This FIFA tournament gives UK-based players the chance to win the ePremier League title for their favourite Premier League football club.
The competition is open to UK residents aged 16 and over and will once again take place on PS4 and Xbox One, with a £40,000 prize pool. There will also be seats on offer for top-ranking players at the FIFA 21 Global Series (FGS) European Playoffs.
Gfinity has once again been appointed tournament operator for the ePremier League.
During this season’s online qualifiers, all players will be required to play in 90-rated Online Friendlies mode as their chosen Premier League club. Those who progress to the playoffs and beyond will play on FIFA Ultimate Team (using Premier League players only).
Registration for this year’s competition opens at 5pm GMT on Thursday December 3rd 2020 at e.premierleague.com, with online qualification running from January 4th to 31st 2021.
Representatives for all 20 clubs will compete to see who reaches the online playoffs from February 15th to March 3rd 2021, before the live finals take place in spring 2021.
The finals will once again be broadcast live on Sky Sports, Premier League channels and EA’s FIFA Twitch channel. Over the last two seasons, the finals apparently reached more than 22m fans.
“We are looking forward to another edition of ePremier League, after the first two seasons delivered some thrilling entertainment while giving UK-based fans the chance to represent their teams in high-profile competition.”
Will Brass, Premier League
UK talent has dominated the tournaments in the past. The 2020/21 instalment of the ePL was won by Watford FC’s Thomas ‘Hashtag Tom’ Leese, after the inaugural ePL tournament was won by Donovan ‘Fnatic Tekkz’ Hunt on behalf of Liverpool FC. He now also plays for London-based org Fnatic.
Premier League commercial director Will Brass said: “We are looking forward to another edition of ePremier League, after the first two seasons delivered some thrilling entertainment while giving UK-based fans the chance to represent their teams in high-profile competition.
“We have been able to deliver the live finals to a wide audience in the UK and around the world, thanks to EA Sports and our broadcast partners, and we hope fans enjoy watching and having the chance to participate in another exciting season of ePL action.”
Hashtag Tom added: “It meant a lot for me to be crowned the 2019/20 ePremier League champion as it is one of the most prestigious tournaments on the professional FIFA circuit and it was the first major trophy of my career.
“I would recommend the competition to FIFA players as ePL is a massive tournament with a lot of people watching. It also gives you the unique chance to try and represent your favourite Premier League team. And if you’re looking to break into professional FIFA then this is the perfect opportunity for UK gamers to showcase their talent.”
ePremier League evolved during the 2019/20 season, with the introduction of the ePL Invitational tournament while football was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. This saw first-team players and other famous faces compete on behalf of all 20 Premier League clubs in an online FIFA 20 tournament.
Two instalments of the competition were broadcast across five continents as then-Wolverhampton Wanderers player Diogo Jota and Leicester City’s James Maddison were crowned champions.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
