LONDON - Paulo Neto and Vini Leiva, Atlanta United eSports duo, will pair up to represent the 5-Stripes in the first international live in-person event since the COVID-19 pandemic put a break to all FIFAe and eMLS competitions. The time has come for the EA Sports FIFA Global Series (FGS) Team of the Season Cup (TOTS) in London, England, where Atlanta United eSports Team presented by Perficient have the chance to become 2v2 FGS champions.
2022 has already been a very successful eSports campaign for Atlanta United. The month of March saw Neto winning the 2022 eMLS Cup presented by Coca-Cola, the latest of the numerous trophies for the club, and together with Leiva both players were crowned champions of the FGS Masters Cup. Following the success of the program, Perficient, Inc. became ATL UTD’s first-ever eSports sponsor.
Now the duo will face off against a mix of fellow FGS Masters and the 16 regional champions of the FGS Open. The group stages begin on April 29, with the tournament culminating in the top two teams battling it out on May 1 for $100,000 and a direct spot in the FIFAe Club World Cup.
Atlanta United were drawn into Group C of the FGS TOTS Cup where they will play their first match against Israeli club NOM eSports. SAF x GG and Complexity Gaming complete the group, and all the games will be played on PlayStation 5 consoles.
Atlanta United is only a few of the selective soccer organizations competing in the competition, together with Inter Milan (ITA), AFC Ajax (NED), Levante UD (ESP), Kawasaki Frontale (JPN), and fellow MLS clubs Houston Dynamo and CF Montréal. The rest of the teams are professional eSports organizations.
In order to qualify for the FGS TOTS Cup, clubs were either selected as part of FGS Masters or had to qualify via the FGS Open. Atlanta United is one of the 16 FGS Masters clubs.
You can follow the action on Atlanta United’s social channels all weekend and watch the competition live starting Friday, April 29 on EA Sports Twitch channel.
Format of the tournament
Rounds 1 & 2 (Friday)
- Each team will play one two-legged game against one of their group opponents to kick off the tournament, for Round 1.
- The losing teams will play against each other on another two-legged match for a last chance to continue in the competition. The loser of that match goes home and gets eliminated.
- The winners of Round 1 games will face each other in Round 2, with the winning team qualifying to the Final Stage which will be played on Saturday. The losing team will play one more game against the survivor from the Round 1 losing teams to advance to the Final Stage.
- In total, two teams only will qualify for the Final Stage.
- On Friday, 16 teams will be eliminated on Friday.
Final Stage (Saturday)
The Final Stage will consist of the 16 qualified teams from Rounds 1 & 2.
