The Home Nations and EE have once again teamed up for The Connected Club Cup 2023, with the introduction of the first women’s tournament within it.
The FIFA esports competition will see grassroots gamers go head-to-head with Home Nations footballers and esports pros from Excel Esports (whom EE sponsor) at a live final. This will take place at Wembley Stadium connected by EE Full Fibre on July 26th 2023.
The EE Connected Club Cup 2023 is open to anyone over the age of 16 from today (May 17th). Prizes include a trophy, tickets to an international football match and signed merchandise. It will be streamed live on the FA Twitch channel.
The news comes after the first EE Connected Club Cup was announced in 2022, and the Connected Club Cup winner Alfie Calder was named later in the year.
Stephen Hutchinson, Head of Partnerships at the FA, said: “Launching the first women’s tournament in the Connected Club Cup is an exciting time for both The FA and EE, and in particular women esports fans across England – as we aim to bring together football communities and esports.
“It has been great to watch our 2022 winner and finalists’ journeys in esports grow over the past year, and we are looking forward to giving the opportunity to many more football fans and gamers in 2023.”
Pete Jeavons, Director of Marketing Communications at EE, added: “Together with The Home Nations, we are delighted to see the return of the Connected Club Cup, powered by EE’s Full Fibre Broadband, and continue to help transform grassroots clubs across the country into community hubs. We are committed to making both football and gaming as inclusive as possible, which is why we have introduced a women’s tournament this year.
As part of our mission to become the UK’s no.1 destination for gaming, we are proud to be offering this opportunity for grassroot gamers to show off their talent and compete against the pros to be crowned the Connected Club Cup 2023 champion.”
How qualifying works for the EE Connected Club Cup 2023
The Connected Club Cup online national qualifiers, hosted by Battlefy, will take place online, running over four weeks in May and June. Players will enter the men’s or women’s tournament and will then be placed into qualifiers for their respective location (via post code validation).
Four of the best men and four of the best women from each nations qualifiers will move onto the national finals.
National Finals
The national final tournaments will be hosted at one of EE’s Connected Clubs – grassroots football clubhouses that have been turned into gaming hubs using EE Full Fibre. Chasetown FC, Barry Town United AFC, Pollok United FC and Ballymacash Rangers FC will host four players from each qualifier on June 18th.
Gamers will compete in a two-leg round-robin (all-play-all) tournament, with each leg played on a different console. The best male and female player from each national final will then win a place at the live exhibition final.
The Connected Club Cup Exhibition Final
The live exhibition final, hosted in The FA Club Box at Wembley Stadium on July 26th, will welcome two grassroots gamers from each national final. Following the same round-robin format as the national finals, the eight finalists can also test their skills against Home Nations football players and Excel esports gamers, as mentioned.
To enter the EE Connected Club Cup 2023 qualifiers, visit battlefy.com/connectedclubcup between May 17th and June 2nd at 8pm BST.
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.
