FIFA 18: EA Sports ties up with MLS for new e-sports tournament

What's the story?

EA Sports has announced the eMLS Cup, an e-sports tournament after a deal with the Major League Soccer (MLS) that will see 19 teams compete in FIFA 18.

In case you didn't know...

Major League Soccer (MLS) is the professional football league sanctioned by United States Soccer and consists of professional teams from the USA and Canada.

The heart of the matter

EA Sports and Major League Soccer signed a deal recently and have launched the eMLS Cup, an e-sports tournament that will see representatives of 19 teams from MLS clash for a shot at the FIFA 18 World Championship.

The Major League Soccer has 23 teams - 20 from US and 3 from Canada but only 19 teams are taking part in the eMLS Cup. The 19 teams that will feature at the eMLS Cup are - Chicago Fire, Colorado Rapids, Columbus Crew SC, FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo, LA Galaxy, Minnesota United FC, Montreal Impact, New England Revolution, New York City FC, New York Red Bulls, Orlando City SC, Philadelphia Union, Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders FC, Sporting Kansas City, Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

Every team will have their own process to select a representative for the eMLS Cup tournament. The winner of the tournament will get a spot in the FIFA 18 Global Series Playoffs, which will be followed by the FIFA eWorld Cup to be held in August.

What's next?

The official dates for the eMLS Cup will be announced soon by EA Sports and MLS. Interested players can register here.

Author's take

FIFA is one of the most widely played e-sports game in the world and MLS' association with EA Sports will help them in gaining a mainstream popularity amongst the FIFA players.