The official England FIFA esports team, the eLions, have kicked off the FIFA 23 season naming their new squad and coach ahead of today’s FIFAe Nations play-ins.
Stingray (Dan Ray) and EthxnH (Ethan Higgins) have joined the squad, alongside current eLions, Tekkz (Donovan Hunt), XL Tom (Tom Leese) and MHaywxrd (Mitch Hayward) ahead of the start of the 2023 FIFAe Nations Cup campaign.
Kicking off today, the eLions will play the first of three play-ins, taking place between December and March, to determine their involvement in the FIFAe Nations Cup final, due to be held next year.
Following an announcement earlier this year, the FA will use a performance-based recruitment model for the eLions, rather than a one-off tournament format which had been used in previous seasons. The eLions will be selected based on their performance throughout the season, with a leaderboard ranking from the most recent season, their form and their 2v2 and 1v1 experience all being contributing factors to their selection.
Following his selection, Stringray said: “After almost qualifying to be an eLion myself through ‘eLions: The Eliminator’ back in 2021, I am proud to have been selected to play for my country based on my consistent performance.
“I have had a successful couple of club seasons, finishing as the highest ranked English players last season and am looking forward to applying myself and playing to the best of my ability for the team.”
Stingray, eLions
Leading the five-man squad is FIFA coach, Zac Moore, who currently manages UK club team, SAF, taking them to the final of the FIFAe Club World Cup 2022, where they recorded a top-two finish.
The team selection will be determined by the eLions technical team, based on pairing and player performance during training and bootcamp sessions.
The news comes after the EA Sports Cup and FIFA 23 esports ecosystem roadmap was announced a few months ago.
Following his appointment, Zac said: “It is truly an honour to coach the eLions and be part of their FIFAe Nations journey, which I have followed closely for a number of years.
“My club coaching career has been an experience which has required both hard work and dedication, which is nothing short of what I will apply to my new role as the eLions’ head coach.”
The eLions also have a new Twitter account @EnglandGaming and the play-ins can be watched via England’s Twitch channel.
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.
