Tag: EA SPORTS

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FIFA

Norwich City Crowned as 2021/22 ePremier League Champions

Norwich City have been crowned the 2021/22 ePremier League Champions, with Damien ‘Damie’ Augustyniak and Jack ‘GoalPoacher_’ Wignall winning the title for the Canaries! The EA SPORTS™ FIFA 22 finals were held in-person for the first time in three years, and was broadcasted live on Sky Sports and EA’s Twitch channel. The tournament was a thrilling journey that concluded in an even more exciting climax!

On Saturday, March 26th, GoalPoacher_ and Damie went unbeaten in four matches to top Group D, billed the ‘Group of Death’. Then in Sunday’s knockout fixtures, a fine performance from Damie was enough to see the pair beat Chelsea 5-2 on aggregate in the quarter-finals. The Norwich duo had already proved to be a dream team, and hoped to carry that momentum into the semi-finals. Damie played out a tense 0-0 draw against last year’s runner-up Olle “Ollelito” Arbin, creating a bit of suspense ahead of GoalPoacher_’s matchup. A 2-1 victory for Goalpoacher_ over Mitchell Hayward saw the Canaries overcome Leeds United to progress to the Grand Final.

Damie and Goalpoacher_ would go on to defeat Brentford duo Sam ‘SamBrwster’ Brewster and Peace ‘czohino’ Chirwa in Sunday evening’s Grand Final, thanks to a 5-1 aggregate victory. After clinching the title, Damie reflected on his journey to the gold, saying:

“Words can’t describe how I’m feeling right now. The standard of player this year went up a level, so it feels a bit surreal to call myself an ePremier League Champion. I’m so proud to lift the trophy, for the first ever time, and I’m pleased that the hard work has paid off.”

Goalpoacher_ also shared his thoughts, saying:

“This is my first ePremier League title and lifting the trophy is a moment that I’ll never forget. It has been a tough tournament, but I feel that Damien and I worked well as a team and, together, managed to progress past any opponent who stood in our way. I was always confident that we’d have a chance, but to go and win the tournament is a dream come true.”

LONDON, ENGLAND – MARCH 27: Jack Wignall (L) and Damien Augustyniak of Norwich City celebrate their victory over Brentfordin the Final of the ePremier League Grand Finals at Here East on March 27, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Christopher Lee/Getty Images for ePremier League)

The winning pair also picked up a £30,000 first prize for their efforts, totaling £15,000 per player. Both Damie and Goalpoacher_ have also earned spots in the EA SPORTS™ FIFA 22 Global Series European Playoffs! Premier League Commercial Director Will Brass congratulates Norwich City and anticipates another season of competition, saying, “We look forward to the next season of the ePremier League, providing clubs with a unique opportunity to engage with their fans, and viewers…

For more information visit e.premierleague.com.

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FIFA

FIFA Streamer Castro1021 Has FUT Coin Distribution Ban Lifted By EA

Castro1021 Reacts to Being Banned from FUT Trade Market

Edwin Castro, better known as Castro_2021, is one of the FIFA community’s most popular content creators; with 3.3 million Twitch followers. He was streaming FIFA 22 live to thousands when an “Important Notice” screen popped up, informing him he had been permanently banned from the FUT transfer market for “FUT Coin distribution.” Castro was visibly and audibly as shocked, upset, and confused as his audience.

The aftermath included many players coming out about their own experiences, saying they too had been wrongfully banned for FUT Coin distribution. Castro’s theory is that him dropping a large amount of FIFA points on Black Friday, and purchasing FUT Red Player Picks cards possibly triggered an automated enforcement system. These kinds of card are earned through Weekend League matches, and players aren’t suppose to be able to trade them. However, there is no mechanism in place to keep them from being sold, nor did Castro abuse any meta-factors to do so. Castro’s FIFA play is broadcasted on a public platform, so any attempts to engage in FUT Coin distribution would be easily detected, and a manual review would have stopped this ban from ever happening.

This is clearly becoming a prevalent problem within the games community, with Castro’s high profile case drawing extra attention to it. One user on EA’s official answers forum, claimed to have a received a ban for FUT Coin distribution, despite never playing the FIFA Ultimate Team game mode. A community manager for EA responded, stating that the terms of service team had investigated the ban manually and upheld the decision. There’s still speculation that the initial ban system is automated, and cases of wrongful bans keep popping up everyday. Lucky for Castro, he’s a public figure and had his ban reviewed and overturned pretty swiftly; but the average FIFA player without that luxury is still waiting for a resolution to this problem.

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FIFA

EA Sports Considering a FIFA Rebrand: How Will This Affect Players?

FIFA EA Sports Logo
EA Sports FIFA

EA Sports released a statement on their website detailing the future of football and the FIFA series. The developer is considering renaming the series and rebranding the games going forward. On a business level this make sense, but what does this mean for players?

FIFA is essentially synonymous with football games at this point, and fans of the series may have grown attached to the name. However, EA Sports has plans to expand the games in a way that can get pigeonholed by continually bearing the name of one particular association. In their statement, EA explains a bit about this vision, saying:

“We continually invest in the partnerships and licenses that are most meaningful to players… The breadth of our partnerships and our ecosystem of licensed content will enable us to continue to bring unrivaled authenticity in our EA SPORTS football games”

FIFA may be EA’s most high-profile partnership, but they license over 700 teams and more than 30 leagues from around the world. There’s also interest in expanding the inclusion of women’s and grassroots football. EA feels as if the FIFA name does not accurately represent the broader vision for the future of the series.

What this means is that players can look forward to an even larger scale game with new content. That includes more leagues, a deeper dive into women’s football, as well as the different depictions and licenses that come along with that. There may be a nostalgia aspect to the FIFA name, but it’ll be traded for the ability to play in new locations and with new players as the game expands. Business wise, this change has been a long time coming; with many who feel the games have done more for the actual association than licensing the name ever did for EA. From a players perspective the name doesn’t matter as much, but the direction in which this means the series is going definitely does.

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FIFA

This FIFA 22 Beta Review Reveals Highly Impactful Changes to Gameplay

FIFA 22 Game Cover
Game cover for FIFA 22

Gaming YouTuber, Vizeh, was able to access the FIFA 22 closed beta and revealed a lot information for FIFA players. Two of the most important aspects he touched on was the noticeable difference in game physics, and a huge change to off-chemistry gameplay. He described the players as feeling “heavy” when controlled, while the ball felt extremely “light.” He also confirms that using players off-chemistry actually impacts the way they perform.

When playing the beta, Vizeh was able to experience controlling high level dribblers, like 98-rated Neymar, as well as lower level ball handlers. There seemed to be no difference in the “heavy” mechanics he experienced across different players. In contrast, the ball seemed to ricochet wildly, travel 30 yards, and bounce up to seven times a half. According to Vizeh, these mechanics make it more challenging to execute passes and hurts the overall game feel. This translates to difficult dribbling and inconsistent physics during gameplay.

He also play-tested using players off-chemistry, and the impact this has on the game in FIFA 22‘s beta is far ahead of where is was in previous editions. Plugging in players anywhere seemed to have little to no consequence in past FIFA‘s. This year, playing a right back or left back at center is not as affective as it once was; quite the opposite actually. Vizeh describes being able to feel the difference in how these players moved with the ball and the lack of comfortability in their new positions. These changes will not only impact gameplay, but could affect the FIFA esports scene as well.

If the mechanics Vizeh described exist in the final version of the game, it could lead to more fast-paced matches with frequent possession switches. It’s likely that the odd and sometimes random off-chemistry lineups players created in past years will start to disappear quickly as the games developers lean into a more realistic style of play. It will be interesting to see the communities reaction to these changes when FIFA 22 releases on October 1st.

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FIFA

EA SPORTS announce improvement to FIFA 21 viewership rewards

An update has been provided by EA SPORTS on the FIFA 21 Global Series viewership rewards program that allows viewers to earn FGS Player Tokens.

Last month, EA SPORTS announced that viewers who watch the Global Series for at least 60 minutes of an eligible event will earn a guaranteed FGS Player Token. These can be redeemed for Untradeable Pack Rewards in FUT 21.

However, viewers have now been given more flexibility to watch events and earn their tokens. EA announced on December 1 that on five weekends during the FGS Swaps 1 season, viewers will be able to tune in to multiple eligible events in order to earn one FGS Player Token.

EA have made it clear that viewers will only be able to earn one token per weekend but they can now have the opportunity to earn the reward by watching any of the eligible events on the designated weekends.

The first event where viewers can earn their tokens will kick-off on December 5 for the West Asia Regional Qualifier 1 or the South America Regional Qualifier 1. These can be watched on the EA SPORTS Twitch channel.

FIFA 21 Global Series schedule

As well as the viewership rewards update, EA also revealed that all of their South America regional broadcasts will be available in Spanish on a Spanish EA Twitch channel and Brazilian Portuguese on a Brazilian EA Twitch channel. These broadcasts will also be eligible for the FGS Player Token reward for that weekend.

How to earn your FGS Player Tokens

Courtesy of the EA website:

Link your Twitch and EA accounts on ea.com/twitchlinking. Age restrictions apply. See https://www.twitch.tv/p/legal/terms-of-service/ for details.

Watch 60 minutes of eligible FIFA 21 Global Series Event or Events when there are multiple on a single weekend on the official channels designated below.

Receive one FGS Player Token Item in-game 

Tune in to more eligible events on different weekends to earn more FGS Player Token items. You can earn only one FGS Player Token Item per weekend with eligible events.

Redeem your FGS Player Token items in-game for Untradeable Pack Rewards.

All FIFA 21 eligible events for FGS Player Tokens

Token #1 – FIFA 21 Challenge (October 29) *complete

Token #2 – South America Regional Qualifier 1 (December 5-6)

Token #3 – European Regional Qualifier 1 (December 12-13)

Token #4 – North America Regional Qualifier 1 | Oceania Regional Qualifier 1 (January 9-10)

Token #5 – European Regional Qualifier 2 (January 23-24)

Token #6 – North American Regional Qualifier 2 | West Asia Regional Qualifier 2 (February 6-7)

Token #7 – South America Regional Qualifier 3 | Oceania Regional Qualifier 2 (February 13-14)

Token #8 – North America Regional Qualifier 3 | East Asia Regional Qualifier 2 (March 6-7)

Token #9 – European Regional Qualifier 4 (March 20-21)

More to be announced.

For all the latest competitive FIFA news and analysis follow Dart Frog on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

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FIFA

ePremier League is back for the 2020/21 season

The ePremier league makes a return for its third season with registration opening in the beginning of December.

The EA SPORTS FIFA 21 tournament offers UK-based players the chance to represent their favourite Premier League club.

Registration for the ePremier League opens at 17:00 GMT on Thursday 3 December and can be completed by visiting e.premierleague.com. All participants must be aged 16 or over and play on either Xbox One or PlayStation 4.

Matches will then take place between all 20 clubs for four months. Online qualification will lead to club playoffs which will come to a climax at the ePL Finals in March/April 2021.

This season’s finals will again be broadcast live on Sky Sports, Premier League channels and the EA SPORTS FIFA Twitch channel.

The prize pot this year remains unchanged with a £40,000 overall prize being shared out between the top four.

Watford’s “Hashtag Tom” Leese won last year’s ePremier League title. He defeated Bournemouth’s Marc “MarcMarleyyy” Marley in the grand final and took home £20,000.

Last year’s champion said: “I would recommend the competition to FIFA players as ePL is a massive tournament with a lot of people watching.

“It also gives you the unique chance to try and represent your favourite Premier League team. And if you’re looking to break into professional FIFA then this is the perfect opportunity for UK gamers to showcase their talent.”

As well as taking home the trophy and a cash prize, the top ranking players will be offered seats at the EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Global Series European Playoffs.

If you want to find out more information regarding the Global Series rules visit the EA website.

The Global Series is now underway with the main tournaments kicking off this month. Big changes have been made to the global series format this year with regional play from home being a main focus.

It will be interesting to see how it all plays out on the road to the FIFA eWorld Cup next year.

Are you excited for the ePremier League’s return?

Let us know!

For all the latest competitive FIFA news and analysis follow Dart Frog on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

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FIFA 21 Global Series details announced with big changes

EA Sports have revealed all details for the upcoming FIFA 21 competitive season set to begin in late November.

The official pitch notes were released on September 29 and it details the changes coming to competitive FIFA this year.

One of the main changes of course being a shift to online gameplay due to the global pandemic.

League Operations Manager, Rushan Shekar said: “While this year may look a little different, the focus is still to allow for top level competition between the best FIFA players from around the globe.”

Let’s take a closer look at what we can expect from this year’s Global Series:

Regional play from home

EA Sports stated: ” To support our online ecosystem, we’ve sorted players into regions of play based on their country of residence.

“Players may only play in the region that corresponds to their country/territory of residence and cannot change regions once the season begins.”

There will be six regions of play with multiple countries in each. The list of regions and countries is as follows:

  • Europe: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech, Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom
  • North America: Canada (including Quebec), Mexico, United States of America
  • South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Netherlands Antilles, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, Venezuela
  • Oceania: Australia, New Zealand
  • East Asia: China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam
  • West Asia & South Africa: India, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United Arab Emirates

South Africa will have its own qualifiers but will join West Asia for regional playoffs. Egypt, Israel and Turkey will join the Europe region.

Each region will have its own Xbox and PlayStation rankings. The regional leaderboards will decide which teams qualify for each Regional Playoffs.

As the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 will not be released until the season has started, it will remain on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 for the FIFA 21 season.

Oceania, East Asia, West Asia and South Africa will play exclusively on PlayStation 4. This is due to the PlayStation 4 historically having more FUT Champions Verified Players.

FIFA 21 Global Series tournament formats

All Qualifiers will be double elimination tournaments. Players will then be seeded based on their Global Series Points. For the first tournament of the season, cumulative Weekend League wins will be used to determine seeding.

Road to the FIFA eWorld Cup

The traditional Swiss format is being ditched this year despite its popularity. EA Sports said: ” Firstmost, this year’s Global Series is about earning Points based on your finishes across a number of tournaments.

“The Qualifiers are not singular events searching for the undisputed best players to move onto an important in-person event. Instead, this year the Global Series is in search of consistent performance across multiple events to qualify players to the Regional Playoffs.”

EA are focusing on this new format to help determine consistency throughout the season. It will also eradicate extensive waiting time between matches for players.

A total of $3 million will be awarded this season, a rise of one million from last year.

Full schedule

Here is a full list of the scheduled tournaments across the year:

Europe

  • November 28th to 29th, 2020
  • January 9th to 10th, 2021
  • February 6th to 7th, 2021
  • March 6th to 7th, 2021
  • April 10th to 11th, 2021

North America

  • December 12th to 13th, 2020
  • January 23rd to 24th, 2021
  • February 20th to 21st, 2021
  • March 27th to 28th, 2021
  • April 17th to 18th, 2021

South America

  • November 21st to 22nd, 2020
  • December 12th to 13th, 2020
  • January 23rd to 24th, 2021
  • February 20th to 21st, 2021
  • March 27th to 28th, 2021

East Asia

  • December 12th to 13th, 2020
  • February 20th to 21st, 2021
  • March 27th to 28th, 2021

West Asia & South Africa

  • November 21st to 22nd, 2020
  • January 23rd to 24th, 2021
  • March 27th to 28th, 2021

Oceania

  • December 12th to 13th, 2020
  • January 23rd to 24th, 2021
  • February 20th to 21st, 2021

For all the information on the FIFA 21 Global Series, view the full pitch notes.

Are you excited for the new season?

Let us know!

For all the latest competitive FIFA news and analysis follow Dart Frog on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

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EA Sports release pitch notes on FIFA 21 FUT Launch Update

The FIFA Live content team have revealed more information on what to expect from FIFA 21 Ultimate Team this season.

It is only a matter of days before players can get their hands on FIFA 21. Early Access for EA Play members begins on October 1.

If you have pre-ordered the Champions or Ultimate Edition then you have access on October 6, three days before the worldwide release on October 9.

During these early access periods, players can earn special rewards.

Early Access special rewards

One of the rewards available to early access players is a set of Pre-Launch Objectives. This gives players the chance to earn a reward pack which contains an untradeable 80-84 OVR player pick and a 10 game loan TOTW player.

In addition to more time in Season 1, EA Play members can receive a Season XP boost to give them an upper hand.

Early access players will be able to experience Live FUT Friendlies first with the Three Nations themed Live FUT Friendly Challenge.

They will also have the first opportunity to experience Events with a head start in the Humans vs. Machine community event.

EA have decided to feature exclusive Ones To Watch content for the first time. This includes a OTW Player SBC and a OTW Player Pick Vote.

Ones To Watch players confirmed

Ones To Watch players are Live Player Items that upgrade based on real-world performances. EA have confirmed six players so far that will feature in OTW this season:

OTW Team 1 will be revealed and released on October 9 and OTW Team 2 will be revealed on October 14 and released on October 16.

Live FUT Friendlies

In the official pitch notes EA Sports stated: “With Live FUT Friendlies, we’re combining Squad Rules with the different House Rules in Friendlies, to create fun and diverse new ways to play that will be active for a limited time.

“Live FUT Friendlies will present a new way to interact with campaigns and player programs throughout the year. Completing certain objectives in Live FUT Friendlies will earn you unique rewards.”

For more information on the FUT 21 launch visit ea.com for the full pitch notes.

Will you be gaining early access to FIFA 21?

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For all the latest competitive FIFA news and analysis follow Dart Frog on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Featured Image: EA Sports

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Hashtag Tom wins the ePremier League 2019/2020

Pro FIFA player, Hashtag Tom, brought home the title for Watford as he was crowned ePL champion on Thursday.

A total of 40 players from PlayStation and Xbox battled it out in a group stage and single elimination format.

The tournament was originally planned for earlier in the year but was moved online due to the current pandemic.

With £40,000 on the line, we break down Hashtag Tom’s path to victory.

Hashtag Tom wins for Watford

The tournament began with all 40 players split into four groups of five in their respective console. Hashtag Tom was placed in group A alongside Fredo, MHaywxrd, Kingrowll and LiamCuthyy.

Tom showed from the outset that he meant business and put on an impressive display. He ended the group stages in first place with a 7-2 score total.

He then found his way to the semi-final where he would face Callumitty.

It was a devastating 5-0 win for Hashtag Tom in the semi-final and he looked in peak form.

There was more of the same in the console final as Tom faced Chelsea’s Kyle Hammond. He won 5-1 and seemed almost unstoppable as the goals continued to flow.

Over in the Xbox final, tournament favourite Tekkz faced a huge upset as he lost 5-3 to Bournemouth’s MarcMarleyyy.

The grand final was then set between Watford’s Hashtag Tom and Bournemouth’s MarcMarleyyy.

The grand final match was extremely back-and-forth as both players had their eyes set on the prize.

Tom put himself in the lead after an early strike from Roberto Firmino and seemed to be in the driver’s seat. His lead was then extended to two after Paul Pogba netted in the 38th minute.

It was then too late for MarcMarleyyy as he got one back but the full-time whistle blew for Hashtag Tom.

This was Tom’s first major trophy and he was ecstatic to say the least. The England and Watford representative took to Twitter to express his joy:

Final placings

  • 1st – Hashtag Tom (£20,000)
  • 2nd – MarcMarleyyy (£10,000)
  • 3rd/4th – Hamm-nd & Tekkz (£5,000 each)
  • 5th-8th – Callumitty, Tass, Jamboo, Shawrey

Did you enjoy Hashtag Tom’s performance in the ePremier League?

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For all the latest competitive FIFA news and analysis follow Dart Frog on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Featured Image: Premier League

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FIFA

FIFA 20 Summer Cup Series: Who reigned supreme in each region?

The top players from around the globe competed in the FIFA 20 Summer Cup Series to be crowned their respective regional champion.

From July 17th to August 26th, six online FIFA 20 tournaments were hosted for six different regions of the world. The regions included Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Oceania and Middle East/Africa.

As spectator tournaments were a no-go this year, these online tournaments provided us with top FIFA gameplay from the comfort of our homes.

Here is a look at how all six events played out and who emerged victorious in each region.

Ollelito conquers Europe

The European Summer Cup Series event kicked off on July 17th. Twenty-four of the best European players went head-to-head for a prize pool of $78,000.

Big names like Tekkz, Gorilla and Ollelito were among the impressive competition and the matches, unsurprisingly, did not disappoint.

Despite the standard of opposition, Swedish national, Ollelito, proved too dominant. He remained unbeaten throughout the event and beat Hashtag Tom 11-6 (agg) in the grand final. This then secured him a respectable $15,000.

A-Nezer_ proves his worth in Oceania

Only eight players competed in the Oceania region from July 21st-23rd. Despite the lack of major talent in this region, the matches were still exciting to watch.

FUTWIZ’s Marko made it to the grand final and faced off against Nezer. The match went the way of Nezer and he took the lion’s share of the $30,000 prize pool.

South America couldn’t stop Paulo Neto

The South American event took place between July 24-26th. Eight of the best South American FIFA pros put it all on the line for $30,000.

As expected, the competition was an extremely high standard in this region. The likes of Zezinho and Paulo Neto took to the pitch with high intensity games each day.

After remaining unbeaten all tournament and even netting eight goals against Yago in winner’s finals, Paulo Neto was too good for the opposition. He claimed the win along with $10,000 prize money.

Agu amazes in Asia

Taking place on July 28th, the Asian event also had a prize pool of $30,000.

After two days of exhilarating matches, the grand final was the most exciting of them all. Agu faced Web Nasri in the final match of the event.

The pair played four matches which all ended in a draw resulting in two penalty shootouts which Agu claimed alongside $10,000.

Fiddle takes the North American title

The FIFA Summer Series Cup North America also had a prize pool of $30,000 with eight players in total. The matches were played from July 31st to August 2nd.

Two Americans ended up in the final with Fiddle taking on MaXe vip. Fiddle won both legs with a 5-3 scoreline total and took home the $10,000 prize.

MsDossary asserts his dominance in Middle East

Many call MsDossary the best FIFA player in the world. His performance at this event showed everyone why he deserves such a title.

MsDossary was the clear favourite in the event which took place on August 24th. He dominated all who were put in front of him and took home the $10,000 with ease.

This win also made him the first ever FIFA player to win four consecutive major events over four seasons.

What did you think of the FIFA 20 Summer Cup Series?

Let us know!

For all the latest competitive FIFA news and analysis follow Dart Frog on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.