Groups for the upcoming three major FIFAe 2022 finals in Copenhagen have been announced, with Scotland, England, UK esports organisations and players set to participate, including those from Excel, Fnatic and more.
FIFAe World Cup 2022 players confirmed
Firstly, the FIFA 22 Global Series Playoffs have concluded and the 32 players for the FIFAe World Cup 2022 have been decided.
Among them are two UK players – Stingray representing SAF and Tekkz representing Fnatic – as well as an Argentinian player from UK organisation Guild Esports: nicolas99fc (who won the FIFA eChampions League back in May).
Stingray said his qualification couldn’t have happened without the help of his coach, Welshman Zac Moore.
Tekkz added that he’s been putting in the hard work to return to the FIFAe World Cup.
And Nicolas99fc’s qualification comes a few days after Guild Esports announced job cuts and a £5m loss in their latest financial update. It’ll be his fifth FIFAe World Cup he’s played at since FIFA 17.
All three players with UK links made it through Group D in the Global Series Playoffs on the weekend. Nicolas beat Blazek and Nathansr22, Tekkz beat JRA and AboFawzi, while Stingray defeated OliBoli7 and levyfinn to progress.
The full list of 32 players that will be taking part in the FIFAe World Cup 2022 in Copenhagen later this month (July 14th to 17th) can be found below, along with their nationalities and groups:
England’s Spencer ‘Gorilla’ Ealing previously won the 2017 World Cup, back when it was known as the FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC), in London.
The playoffs also saw UK broadcast talent like Brandon Smith working at the LAN event, a busy gathering full of highs and lows, as players were knocked out, or made it through to the main event.
Group draws for FIFAe Nations Cup and FIFAe Club World Cup 2022 announced
Copenhagen isn’t just playing host to the FIFAe World Cup 2022 – it’s also hosting the FIFAe Club World Cup from July 20th to 23rd and FIFAe Nations Cup from July 27th to 30th 2022.
This means that Copenhagen is hosting the first combined FIFAe finals, the largest event in FIFA esports history.
And the group draws for the FIFAe Club World Cup and FIFAe Nations Cup have been confirmed.
Firstly, in the FIFAe Nations Cup, England has been placed into Group A with Scotland, Denmark, Argentina, Brazil and Singapore.
Scotland’s FIFAe Nations Cup players include Michael Fisher and Marc Marley, while England’s eLions consists of Tekkz and Tom Leese who qualified for the FIFAe Nations Cup last month.
Other well-known nations include Germany and France in Group B, Spain and Portugal in Group C and Italy and Netherlands in Group D, among others.
Then, looking towards the FIFAe Club World Cup 2022 group draw, UK esports organisation Excel are in Group A, featuring UK players Gorilla and Tom Leese. They will go up against NiP, Koln, MGCF Esports RMA Tech, Team Flash and Team Heretics.
Fellow UK esports organisation SAF are in Group B, with UK players Stingray and Conkai, who completed his one-year ban from FIFA earlier in 2022. SAF will face Schalke, Riders, Essentials Gaming, Tuwaiq Esports Club and Complexity Gaming.
Then, London-headquartered Fnatic – featuring UK players Tekkz and Portugal’s Diogo, will go up against Neo, Team Gullit, Dux America, GBX Esports Team and Dire Wolves in Group D.
Group C will feature Team Vitality, MKers, Kru Esports, Order, Reply Totem Esports and Ankaaesports. You can see the full group draw below:
A collective prize pool of $1.2m is up for grabs at all three FIFAe finals this month, in addition to prize money players have picked up during qualification.
The news comes after EA recently sanctioned multiple players for racism and other incidents in the FIFA esports community, following a Twitter thread by UK-based streamer LAMaynard that exposed several individuals.
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.
