The Premier League has launched the ePremier League in conjunction with EA, a yearly online event in which competitive gamers fight against one another on EA’s FIFA gaming brand.
Players who participate the event choose to represent their favourite club in order to demonstrate their skills in a competitive gaming environment.
The fourth year of the ePremier League competition has resulted in the crowning of a new champion. So, let’s take a look at the ePremier League champions and the prize money they’ve received.
But before that let’s understand the format!
What is the format?
Each team is represented by two professional eSports gamers who will be hoping to win this large gaming competition every year!
For those who are unaware, the ePremier League Grand Finals 2021/22 was the first to be broadcast on next-generation platforms (Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X/S).
The teams were divided into four groups for the competition.
From each group, two teams advanced to the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals. The Group stages took place on Saturday, March 26th, 2022, with the knockout stages taking place on Sunday, March 27th, 2022.
So what is the prize money?
The winning 2022 team received a £30,000 first prize, £15,000 for each player, and a berth in the EA SPORTS FIFA 22 Global Series European Playoffs. Each of the runners-up received £7,500.
This year, two players were proclaimed champions as a result of a change in the tournament’s system, in which instead of competing independently, your scores would be aggregated with your partner, and the winner would be determined by that!
Previously, the tournament’s champion would get a £20,000 prize, with the runner-up receiving £10,000.
Who won this year?
Norwich City has won the 2021-22 ePremier League title, with Damien ‘Damie’ Augustyniak and Jack ‘GoalPoacher_’ Wignall leading the Canaries to victory.
Damie and Goalpoacher_ won the Grand Final 5-1 on aggregate over Brentford combination Sam ‘SamBrwster’ Brewster and Peace ‘czohino’ Chirwa. Damie, a semi-finalist in 2018-19, easily won the Xbox leg 3-1. GoalPoacher, who won 2-0 on PlayStation, then secured the trophy for Norwich.
“Words can’t describe how I’m feeling right now,” Damie said after winning the title. “The level of competition has increased this year, so it feels a little surreal to be crowned ePremier League Champion. I’m overjoyed to be able to lift the trophy for the first time, and I’m glad that all of my hard work has paid off.”
