UK FIFA streamer ShaunaGames is urging more women to participate in competitive FIFA.
She was speaking ahead of the eLions: The Eliminator tournament, which takes place in January and will give five FIFA players the chance to represent England in the 2021 FIFAe Nations Cup.
“There has been a lot of focus on increasing female participation across sports in general over the past few years,” ShaunaGames said.
“And I myself as a FIFA streamer would love to see more female gamers involved in esports at the top level, so I am hoping to see more sign ups from girls this year.”
Currently the eLions squad consists of two players, ePremier League champion Hashtag Tom and Fnatic Tekkz, the top ranked English players on FIFA 20. But the tournament will see the eLions representatives increased to four for this season.
Tom and Tekkz will be two of the eight players already confirmed for the 16-player eLions: The Eliminator event on January 29th to 30th 2021 and it will be broadcast live on the England Twitch channel.
They will be joined by the six players who qualified for the ‘Beat the eLions’ tournament that was due to take place earlier this year but was cancelled due to COVID:19. They are Gorilla, Harry Hesketh, Lyricz, Fully, Ethan Higgins and Manchester City gamer Ryan Pessoa.
“As a FIFA streamer myself I would love to see more female gamers involved in esports at the top level, so I am hoping to see more sign ups from girls this year.”
ShaunaGames
Eight further spots will be available through an online qualifier which will take place across January 13th and 14th 2021, with the top four players on each console (Xbox One and PS4) making it through to the live broadcast tournament. This will be a straight knockout format, meaning that players need to win all their games to earn a place in the squad.
The top four players, two on each console, will then be announced as the new eLions squad and will have a chance of representing England at the 2021 FIFAe Nations Cup on May 21st to 23rd in Copenhagen.
Current eLion, Tom Leese (Hashtag Tom) said: “I have really enjoyed my time so far as an eLion and it’s such an honour to represent England. It was disappointing that this year’s eNations event was cancelled due to COVID, I felt that myself and Tekkz had a great chance of bringing home the trophy because we were both in great form.
“I would love to retain my place and play for England in the 2021 FIFAe Nations and I am looking forward to battling it out with the other competitors in January.”
Donovan Hunt (Fnatic Tekkz) added: “It’s been a great experience partnering up with Tom for England but it’s good to hear that the squad is expanding too. Hopefully, I can continue to be a part of it.”
FIFA players from across the country aged 16 and over can register their interest to take part here and play for their place in the tournament, with a chance to challenge the current eLions for their positions in the squad, Hashtag Tom (PS4) and Fnatic Tekkz (Xbox).
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.
