The national team won’t be England’s only chance to become FIFA World Champions in Brazil this summer, as Englishmen Ty Walton and David Bytheway have qualified to represent England at the FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC) Grand Final.
This year marks the 10th edition of the FIWC and is the first year the Grand Final is to be held in the same country and at the same time as the FIFA World CupTM. 1,997,689 players from all round the world attempted to qualify for Rio de Janeiro’s Grand Final on the 2nd and 3rd of July.
David, aged 20 from Wolverhampton, is ranked 23rd in the world and 21 year old Ty, from Redditch, ranked 19th, will be taking on players from nations such as Brazil, Romania and Ireland as they battle to be crowned the FIWC champion.
The Englishmen will travel to Rio de Janeiro as part of a dream three-day trip laid on by FIFA and Presenting Partners EA SPORTSTM and Sony PlayStation. As well as competing, they will be taking in the Rio landmarks, meeting football legends and to top it off will take part in an exclusive trip to the Maracana where they will watch one of the FIFA World CupTM Quarter Finals.
The players will be divided into four groups of five with the winners and runners-up qualifying for the knock out rounds. Should they progress, David and Ty will then have to navigate the quarter and semi –finals before the ultimate final showdown. The tournament will be played on the 2014 FIFA World Cup BrazilTM game and each finalist will pick first and second choice teams ensuring no matchups will feature the same two sides. Higher ranked players will have the advantage of being able to use their first choice should the situation arise.
As well as the chance to be crowned the best in the world, the Grand Finalists will have the chance to win USD 20,000 as well as an invitation to the FIFA Ballon d’Or to rub shoulders with the best footballers in the world.
Speaking ahead of the Grand Final, Ty Walton said:
“I feel immensely proud that I’ll be representing my country in Brazil. I’ll be practicing as much as I can in the weeks leading up to the Grand Final and I hope I can do England proud. Just imagine if England brought home two World Cup trophies this summer!
Ralph Straus, FIFA’s Head of Strategy and Brand Management, said:
“We’re all especially excited about this year’s FIWC, as this is the first time that the Grand Final will take place in the same country as the FIFA World CupTM. As ever the line-up is very strong and it will be fascinating to see the best players in the world go head-to-head. This year’s event is more accessible than ever with our strong social media presence supported by a live stream of the event available to fans all over the world.”