England will join a host of European nations in coming together this summer for FIFA eFootball Play x Unite 2020, a new international esports competition.
The competition, which comprises two four-team tournaments, will see elite representatives from across the continent do battle on the virtual pitches of the popular FIFA 20 video game with Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Italy, Sweden and Portugal also set to put forward a PS4 and Xbox representative.
FIFA eFootball Play x Unite 2020 gets underway on Monday 6 July with each tournament including a group stage, knockout round and final:
- Tournament 1 (Monday 6 July – Friday 10 July): England, Germany, Poland and Switzerland
- Tournament 2 (Monday 13 July – Friday 17 July): Belgium, Italy, Sweden and Portugal
Matches will be played via the FIFA Ultimate Team format using equally-matched national team players with scores aggregated across PS4 and Xbox. England will be represented by the eLions – Donovan Hunt (Tekkz) and Tom Leese (HashtagTom_) – who won the right to wear the Three Lions in March 2019.
“To represent England is always an honour," said Tom, "and I’m looking forward to linking up with Tekkz again as my international teammate for this tournament."
Tekkz added: "It should be a lot of fun but at the same time we will be playing to win.
"There are a lot of good players involved from other nations but we are confident we can do well."
Live coverage of the eLions' matches will be powered by LG, one of The FA’s official partners, and hosted by presenter Rachel Stringer across England’s Twitter and YouTube channels. Match commentary will be provided by the English voices of FIFA esports, Brandon Smith and Richard Buckley.
England's group-stage schedule is as follows:
- 5pm BST, Monday 6 July: England vs Poland
- 6pm BST, Monday 6 July: Germany vs England
- 7pm BST, Monday 6 July: Switzerland vs England
- 5pm BST, Tuesday 7 July: England vs Switzerland
- 6pm BST, Tuesday 7 July: England vs Germany
- 7pm BST, Tuesday 7 July: Poland vs England
The eLions will then take part in at least one knockout game from 5pm BST on Wednesday 8 July and, if successful, will then go into the first final on Friday 10 July.
Tournament two – containing Italy, Sweden, Belgium and Portugal – will play out their games in the week commencing Monday 13 July, with a friendly between the two tournament winners taking place at 7pm BST on Wednesday 22 July.
