Coronavirus might have put the handbrake on Sheffield Wednesday’s faltering season but it’s not stopping them being among the bookie’s favourites to claim silverware this term.
The Ultimate Quaran-Team will be played on popular video game Fifa 20 and will be live streamed on streaming site Twitch.
There are a total of 128 teams who are taking part in the tournament from around the world with a wide array of professional Fifa players, professional footballs and regular fans who will be representing their club.
Tom Delee,23, who will be representing his boyhood club Sheffield Wednesday in the tournament, said: “It doesn’t get much better than this.”
Mr Delee, who is also known as DeleeFIFA, is a professional Fifa player who has participated in tournaments in the past finishing runner up at the Elite Series 4 tournament.
Betting sites have priced Mr Delee as one of the favourites to win the tournament along with the likes of Manchester City, Roma and Ajax.
Mr Delee will be facing tough competition in the first round as he will take on Chris Wood (known as Chesnoid Gaming on YouTube) who will be representing Cambridge United.
Mr Delee said: “It should be a good game, he’s a big YouTuber with experience on Fifa but at the end of the day it’s all about the magic of the cup.”
Chesnoid Gaming has got over 260,000 subscribers on YouTube and is well known for his Fifa career mode videos.
Over the 27 year period Fifa has been released it has become the highest selling sport game, selling around 300 million copies.
Fifa 12 holds the record for the fastest selling sports game ever with over 3.2 million games sold and over £186 million generated in its first week of release.
Mr Delee said: “I started playing around Fifa 99 on my brothers PlayStation 1.”
Leyton Orient were the team to arrange the online tournament in an attempt to fill the football gap in fans lives.
It was originally a proposed 64 team tournament but due to the amount of teams willing to participate the number was raised 128.
The draw took place on Tuesday night and provided some comical match ups, such as Walsall Vs Roma and Sydney FC Vs Barnsley.
The competition is hoping to raise vital funds for clubs who will face significant financial difficulties as a result of the suspension of league football due to Covid-19.
Twitch allows people to donate money to streamers and the donations will be split between the EFL clubs who will need the funds, MIND charity and the Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fundraiser.
75% of the donations will go to the EFL clubs, with the remaining 25% of the donations going to the selected charities.
There is also a Just Giving page which will allow people to donate, all the links will be down below.
Mr Delee’s first game against Cambridge United will kick off at around 8:00pm, Sunday 22 March.
Owls fans can watch the first game of hotly contested tournament live on Sheffield Wednesday twitch page.
Mr Delee said: “I back myself all the way but there’s a few tricky opponents such as Manchester City, Roma, Ajax and Burnley.”
To watch live or to donate follow the links below.
Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/sheffieldwednesday
Just Giving:
Football Uncovered 