Adidas and EA have partnered today to host the FIFA 22 Challenge, a one-day competitive FIFA tournament that pairs top professional footballers and FIFA players together in 2v2 matches.
Footballers from Manchester City, FC Barcelona, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and more will take part, with FIFA players from UK-based esports organisations Excel Esports (Tom Leese), Fnatic (Tekkz) and more.
Competitors will team up and represent Team EA and Team Adidas in a series of knockout rounds starting from 7pm BST today.
A precursor to the upcoming FIFA Global Series (FGS) for 2022, the FIFA 22 Challenge marks the first EA-sanctioned FIFA 22 competition that will showcase 2v2 matches – a new format that will become a mainstay throughout the next FGS season.
The event will also feature a viewership rewards program, giving viewers the chance to earn in-game skins and FGS tokens, which can be swapped for in-game packs.
Depending on time spent watching, viewers who link their Twitch and EA accounts will be awarded in-game items, such as an Adidas 99 kit, Adidas 99 Stadium Dressing, Team Gullit and DUX Gaming badges and kits.
Additionally, EA will reveal a new FIFA Ultimate Team content update in partnership with Adidas arriving in November.
The FIFA 22 Challenge is a sequel to EA’s most-watched esports broadcast of all time, the FIFA 21 Challenge. Last year’s edition drew an average minute audience (AMA) of 254,057 with a total watch time of more than 1m hours – more than doubling the previous viewership record set in 2018 by the FIFA Global Series FUT Champions Cup: Barcelona.
Footballers and FIFA player participants in the FIFA 22 Challenge include:
Team EA
- Timo Werner (Chelsea) and SaNkHs (Case Esports)
- Adebayo Akinfenwa (Wycombe Wanderers) and Tom (Excel Esports)
- Diogo Jota (Liverpool) and Tekkz (Fnatic)
- Layvin Kurzawa (Paris Saint-Germain) and Levi (Team Gullit)
Team Adidas
- Weston McKennie (Juventus) and RocKy (Team Vitality)
- Pedri González (FC Barcelona) and Gravesen (DUX Gaming)
- Ferran Torres (Manchester City) and Matias (Team Heretics)
- Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea) and Lisa (JLingz Esports)
Viewers can watch the action on the official EA Sports FIFA esports Twitch and YouTube channels from today (Thursday, October 21st) at 7pm BST. There’s more info on the globalseries.gg website.
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.
