Pitch Notes: EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Global Series

Hi everyone, my name is Rushan Shekar and I am the League Operations Manager for FIFA Competitive Gaming Entertainment. We are excited to announce the EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Global Series today and wanted to provide you with an in-depth look at some of the changes coming to FIFA Competitive Gaming this year. 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.

The EA SPORTS FIFA Global Series has traditionally relied on large scale global competitions bringing together players from all corners of the world. In the midst of a global pandemic, this is no longer possible and it's important to ensure that we can continue to run our competitive gaming events while keeping in mind the health and safety of our competitors and staff. To accomplish this, we have completely re-imagined the EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Global Series to focus on online, regional play from home.

What is a Region?

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. The regions are 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

What Has Changed?

We’re very excited to welcome Bolivia, Costa Rica, and India to the EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Global Series! With the addition of India, we’re changing the name of the Middle East & Africa region to West Asia & South Africa, which India will join, and moving a few of the countries that have traditionally played in that region elsewhere.

South Africa will have its own Qualifiers due to its relative distance, but join West Asia for the Regional Playoffs. The following countries that were a part the Middle East & Africa region will join the Europe region rather than the West Asia region:

• Egypt
• Israel
• Turkey

Regional Rankings

Instead of a single global ranking, each region will have its own ranking for each platform supported in that region. The level of competition in each region will differ and the points available to competitors in each region will be based on the amount of qualifiers and number of competitors in those qualifiers. The regional leaderboards will dictate who qualifies to each Regional Playoffs.

Friendly Competition - FIFA Game Data Centers

We have worked with our internal teams and pored over data from millions of matches to create our plans for FGS21. To facilitate the most stable game environment for online tournaments through the start of the FIFA 21 Global Series season in each region, we have selected the specific connection method or FIFA Game Data Center to be used in each region.

• Europe: Frankfurt
• North America: P2P
• South America: P2P
• Oceania: Sydney
• East Asia: Hong Kong
• West Asia: Dubai
• South Africa: Johannesburg

We have chosen the countries that make up each region based partly on which FIFA Game Data Center they may have the best connection to after many tests. This is why you will see some countries in regions you wouldn’t think of them in, such as Egypt in Europe.

A Pre-Season Scrimmage will be held on October 31st and November 1st to help players have a competitive practice run and help us and our tournament operations partner gather more real world information for tweaks and improvements before we move into the regular season.

Choosing a FIFA Game Data Center will be done using the Friendly Competition game mode which players will unlock after FUT Champions Verification.

Consoles

The FIFA 21 Global Series will not move to PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X as this is a transition year and the new consoles will not be released until after the season has started.

With the move to separated regional play, the following regions will have competition exclusively on PlayStation 4:

• Oceania
• East Asia
• West Asia & South Africa

With only 15 - 40 FUT Champions Verified players on Xbox One in each of these regions, we are consolidating competition into the PlayStation 4 which has historically had a larger number of FUT Champions Verified Players. Europe, North America, and South America will continue to have tournaments on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles.

How to Compete in the FIFA 21 Global Series

So, what will your journey look like this year as a competitive player? We have broken it down into six easy steps:

1. Register to Compete 
2. Achieve FUT Champions Verification
3. Earn Points in FUT Champions
4. Earn Points in Online Qualifiers
5. Represent a Football Club in Domestic Leagues
6. Qualify for the Regional Playoffs

1. Register

Registration for the FIFA 21 Global Series begins on October 9th, 2020 and closes on December 31st, 2020. You must register and agree to the Official Rules during this time to be eligible to play in an online Qualifier. Conditions and restrictions apply.  See Official Rules for details.

2. Achieve FUT Champions Verification

The next step to be considered a competitive player begins in-game with FUT Champions. If you can reach the rank of Elite 1, by winning 27 or more games in a single Weekend League, before December 31st, 2020, you will be a FUT Champions Verified Player. This will come with a few different perks.

Friendly Competition Game Mode

FUT Champions Verified players have access to a special game mode that helps facilitate online tournaments. Using Friendly Competition, competitors will be able to set up matches against others with the following features:

• Ability to set a two legged game with an aggregate score
• Ability to set a start time for the match and ball possession in case a match needs to be restarted
• Ability to see the opponent’s squad before the match begins
• Ability to choose a specific FIFA Game Data Center to play on

3. Earn Points in FUT Champions

Weekend League is also one of the methods through which you will earn Global Series Points on your path to the Regional Playoffs. Based on your best Weekend League performance of the month, you will earn the following number of Global Series Points:

• 30 Wins: 30 Points
• 29 Wins: 30 Points
• 28 Wins: 28 Points
• 27 Wins: 27 Points
• 26 Wins: 26 Points
• 25 Wins: 25 Points
• 24 Wins: 24 Points
• 23 Wins: 23 Points
• 22 Wins: 22 Points
• 21 Wins: 21 Points
• 20 Wins: 20 Points

30 Global Series Points is the maximum number of points one player may earn in a month in FUT Champions.

4. Earn Points in Online Qualifiers

The primary way to earn a spot at the Regional Playoffs this season will be to play in Qualifiers. These will be regular tournaments that will award Global Series Ranking Points. Each region will have its own Qualifiers.

• Europe: 5 Qualifiers each on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
• North America: 5 Qualifiers each on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
• South America: 5 Qualifiers each on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
• East Asia: 3 Qualifiers on PlayStation 4
• West Asia:  3 Qualifiers on PlayStation 4
• Oceania:  3 Qualifiers on PlayStation 4
• South Africa: 3 Qualifiers on PlayStation 4

Please read the Official Rules for a breakdown of how many Global Series Points will be made available. Each Region will have its own FIFA Global Series Rankings this season. This means you will only be ranked against players who have access to the same competitions against the same players. Points will not be transferable between PlayStation and Xbox Rankings.

Online Qualifiers will have a maximum of 1024 players per tournament. If more than 1024 players apply to play in a tournament, only the top 1024 players as determined by Points will be accepted to play.

All Qualifiers will be double elimination tournaments. Players will 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.

No Swiss Format in Online Events

Some players may be disappointed with the removal of Swiss from the online ecosystem. This decision was made after much deliberation. 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. With this approach, we can reduce the grueling gauntlet of a Swiss tournament in a single weekend and use the number of Qualifiers to help determine consistency.

To support this initiative, it’s important to award Points to many more of the players in a tournament. With a double elimination tournament we can achieve this. This season, up to 66% of players (dependent on number of entrants) will earn points in each Qualifier. With a Swiss format, we would not be able to achieve this without having players continue to play long after they’ve been eliminated from any chance of winning the tournament.

Another major factor in removing the Swiss format from online tournaments comes down to the wait time between rounds that the Swiss format creates. The next round in a Swiss tournament cannot begin until all matches in the previous round have been completed. In an online tournament with hundreds of competitors, any number of things can delay a match which then holds up every other match in the event. This was one of the most pressing issues brought up repeatedly through last season and needed to be addressed. The switch to double elimination improves the player experience and helps minimize stress and anxiety by ensuring players move from match to match at a much quicker pace.

The Swiss format will still have a place at Regional Playoff events with 16 or more competitors.

5. Represent a Football Club in a Domestic League

One of the defining traits of FIFA esports is its link to the world of football with traditional football leagues all over the world offering an esports program in collaboration with their clubs. With these unique partnerships, you can represent your favourite club in FIFA 21 competitions. Over 30 leagues are expected to join the FIFA 21 Global Series this year and players who play in them will have the opportunity to earn reserved seats in the corresponding Regional Playoffs.

Players will not earn Global Series Ranking Points in domestic leagues. Instead, they will play for automatic qualification into the Regional Playoffs. Due to the number of leagues, there will be an additional Regional Playoffs Play-In stage for PlayStation 4 players in Europe which will determine which players from those leagues will play in the Regional Playoffs. Please read the Official Rules for more information.

If a player has enough Points to qualify for the Regional Playoffs and also earns a seat through their domestic league, their domestic league qualification will qualify them for a seat in the playoffs the rankings spot will pass down to the next highest ranked player on the regional rankings. In this way, there will be a minimum number of seats at the Regional Playoffs determined by Global Series Points that are earned exclusively through competitions that involve all FUT Champions Verified players in the region.

The following approximate number of seats will be reserved for domestic leagues in each Regional Playoff. We will confirm the final maximum number in January 2021.

• Europe, PlayStation 4 - 22 Players
• Europe, Xbox One - 22 Players
• North America, PlayStation 4 - 6 Players
• North America, Xbox One - 3 Players
• South America, PlayStation 4 - 12 Players
• South America, Xbox One - 3 Players
• West Asia & South Africa, PlayStation 4 - 5 Players
• East Asia, PlayStation 4 - 4 Players
• Oceania, PlayStation 4 - 3 Players

6. Qualify for the Regional Playoffs

The Regional Playoffs will be the pinnacle of the FIFA 21 Global Series. The top players in the region as determined through Global Series Points and domestic league play will compete in one final event to determine the Regional Champion. Each Regional Playoff will be of a different size, determined by the number of FUT Champions Verified Players we had in the previous season.

• Europe, PlayStation 4 - 64 Players
• Europe, Xbox One - 64 Players
• North America, PlayStation 4 - 16 Players
• North America, Xbox One - 16 Players
• South America, PlayStation 4 - 32 Players
• South America, Xbox One - 16 Players
• West Asia & South Africa, PlayStation 4 - 16 Players
• East Asia, PlayStation 4 - 8 Players
• Oceania, PlayStation 4 - 8 Players

FIFA Majors

Details around the FIFA eNations Cup, FIFA eClub World Cup, and FIFA eWorld Cup will be announced by FIFA at a later date. The FIFA eNations Cup and FIFA eClub World Cup will find the best national team and club respectively. The FIFA eWorld Cup is traditionally the final event of the season and would offer invitations to the top finishing players at the Regional Playoffs.

eChampions League & CONMEBOL eLibertadores

The eChampions League and CONMEBOL eLibertadores will be regional competitions in Europe and South America respectively. Much like domestic leagues, the federation events will offer reserved seats in the Regional Playoffs. More information on the eChampions League and CONMEBOL eLibertadores will be available at a later date.

Prizing

This season, EA will award $3 million USD in prizes across Qualifiers, Regional Playoffs, the eChampions League, and CONMEBOL eLibertadores. This is an increase of over $1 Million USD from what was awarded last season.

In previous years, players competed for a shared prize pool at global events. With this year’s changes, we have revisited how prizes will be distributed. Our goal is to have a meaningful level of prizing in each Online Qualifier and Playoff aligned to the number of competitors we have historically seen in each region. The focus for the year is on the Regional Playoffs where we now have over $1,500,000 in total prizes compared to last season’s Playoffs with $500,000. For a full breakdown of prizing, refer to the Official Rules.

Regional Playoffs

Online Qualifiers

Schedule

This year’s first Online Qualifier will begin late November or December in each region to give players more time to get accustomed to the new game. Each Qualifier will take place over one weekend. In some cases, players will stop play to be continued on broadcast two weeks later. This will be communicated before the tournament begins.

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

Season Kick-Off

Although the first competitive event is late in November, we’ll have plenty of FIFA content throughout the next month. These events will not count toward FGS rankings or seats but will kick the season off with some new competitions featuring FGS competitors, footballers, content creators, and other guests playing new formats and modes.

• Twitch Rivals Preseason Invitational on October 3rd and 5th.  Watch the overall broadcast on twitch.tv/twitchrivals or check out the competitors channels for a more personal stream. 
• YouTube Creators Cup on October 8th, check it out on creators channels like DJMariiO, StandartSkill and Two Players One Console.
• FGS: FIFA 21 Challenge on October 29th, watch on twitch.tv/easportsfifa

Keep an eye out for more details on these events to be shared soon by our partners and EA.

Viewership Rewards

As part of our ongoing mission to make our events fun and accessible to viewers, we are updating our popular Viewership Rewards program to give viewers an interactive choice in the rewards they receive.  Viewers of select FIFA 21 Global Series events who link their Twitch and EA accounts will receive an FGS Player Token. Fans will be able to redeem their FGS Player Tokens for pack rewards throughout the year. FGS Player Tokens will allow players to choose when and what pack reward they redeem through a series of repeatable SBCs available in the game.

We’ll have more details ahead of the first event featuring our new rewards system, the FIFA Global Series: FIFA 21 Challenge on October 29th, 2020. You can link your Twitch and EA account on ea.com/twitchlinking and watch our broadcasts on twitch.tv/easportsfifa.

A selection of events, including the FGS21: Twitch Rivals Preseason Invitational event on October 3rd & 5th, will offer our more traditional rewards experience, where viewers who link their Twitch and EA accounts are eligible to receive rewards like specific player items or packs directly.

We Move

Although likely expected, we’re sure you’re as disappointed as we are at the inability to compete in person. The chance to meet and play with the best players in the world, forging rivalries and friendships that cross international borders, is an attribute of FIFA esports we value greatly and have missed. However, in its absence we gain an increased focus on regional play and the chance to create new regional heroes who may not have always had the chance to shine. And when we get back to global play, we’ll have new stars ready to join the elite. We look forward to seeing what you do on the pitch this year. Let’s go!

Rushan Shekar and the FIFA Competitive Team

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For more deep dives on FIFA from members of the game team, check out the Pitch Notes Page.

Please Note: This article is describing in general terms what updates the EA SPORTS FIFA Competitive Teams are working for EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Global Series on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. We are constantly looking to improve the FIFA experience for everyone, so this article may become outdated as we make adjustments to keep our game fun for everyone.

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