1. MEET FIFILZA AND EBINHO
At the FIFA eWorld Cup 2019 this weekend, Wolves will not only be the only Premier League club to have one player at the competition – but two! From more than 40 million FIFA 19 players worldwide, the Wolves duo of Fifilza (Flavio De Almeida Brito) and Ebinho (Ebinho Bernardes da Costa Filho) have made it into the final 32 in the world. Wolves became the first Premier League club to sign a Brazilian eSports player by adding Flavio Brito, an 18-year-old from Sao Paolo, to their team.
Flavio is one of Brazil’s most talented FIFA players, having started playing competitively on FIFA 17, where he immediately made an impression by qualifying for both the Vancouver and the London regionals, in ninth and fourth place in the Americas region respectively. He is down as one to watch in this weekend’s world championships.
Before joining Wolves, Ebinho had spent two-and-a-half years with Dutch Esports agency Bundled, which is Wolves’ eSports partner. Wolves eSports became the first team to sign a player live on streaming platform Twitch, surprising the Brazilian FIFA 19 player with the contract earlier this season when the club offered him a deal while he was streaming to his live audience of 18,000 followers.
2. RETURNING TO LONDON
Fifilza and Ebinho are two of 32 of the planet’s leading players who will be narrowed down to one as the curtain closes on the competitive EA Sports FIFA 19 season with the marquee FIFA eWorld Cup. Returning to The O2 in London for the second consecutive year after the competition previously moved around the world, the Grand Final will take place on between Friday 2nd August and Sunday 4th August. An action-packed three days of elite competitive FIFA will see the 32 players vie for the right to be crowned bag a large cash prize, take home the coveted trophy and be named the best FIFA player in the world.
3. THE FORMAT
It all starts with the group stage. Four groups – two Xbox, two PlayStation – contain eight players based on where they finished in the FIFA 19 Global Series Rankings. Xbox player Ebinho has been placed in Group A, while Fifilza will compete against other PlayStation stars in Group D. Seven rounds of matches are played with the four best players from each group qualifying for the Round of 16. The best-placed player from one group face the lowest-placed player in another, and so on. The Round of 16 winners progress to the quarter-finals before the world’s best four players – the best two on each platform – are narrowed down by the semi-finals. The best player on each console goes through to the Final Showdown where a two-leg tie with one match each on PlayStation and Xbox determines the eWorld Cup Champion 2019.
4. KEEP ON TOP OF THE ACTION
There are plenty of ways to watch this year’s competition, with English language coverage streaming on FIFA.com, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Twitch, Fifa.gg, Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports on YouTube. Leading the English coverage will be the resident hosts, including Spencer Owen, Adam Smith and Emma Paton, as well as analyst Mike La Belle who will provide his vast knowledge of the game, while fan-favourite commentators Mark 'Onset' Hatcher, Dan Gaskin, Richard Buckley and Brandon Smith will bring the action to life.
5. CATCHING THE WOLVES DUO
Ebinho is the first of the Wolves players to get his eWorld Cup campaign underway, with the first leg of his opening Group A match – against one of the competition’s favourites Tekkz – beginning at 10.15am, before the second legs starts at 10.40am. He will play another four matches throughout the morning. Fifilza has been paired against Didychrislito on the first of his opening five Group D matches, with the first leg due to get underway at 3.45pm, followed by the second leg at 4.10am. Both players will face their final two group matches on Saturday, before the knockout rounds take place throughout Sunday.
The full FIFA eWorld Cup 2019 schedule can be found here.
