The first FUT Champions Global Series event is almost here! The top 128 eligible FUT Champions* players will face off in one of the greatest football cities in the world, Barcelona, Spain from January 26-28, with the top 16 moving on to the Global Series playoff tournaments later this year.
Barcelona FUT Champions Cup Tournament Overview
This is the right time to make a Barcelona FUT Champions Cup Tournament Overview.
WHY SHOULD I WATCH?
The players participating in this tournament are the best of the best in FUT 18, and this year’s all-new format promises a highly-entertaining, competitive contest. It’s also the first Global Series qualifying event, which means that eligible competitors can still work their way up the FUT Champions Weekend League leaderboards in February and qualify for the next FUT Champions Cup tournament in April.
WHERE CAN I WATCH THE GAMES?
Spencer “Spencer FC” Owen, Chu “ChuBoi” Morah, and Jimmy Conrad are back to spearhead our broadcast team and to call all of the action live from Barcelona. Joining them this year will be Richard Buckley and Brandon Smith, an emerging powerful duo in the broadcasting scene alongside some of the best well-known faces from the FIFA community.
WHAT ARE THE PRIZES?
A total of $200,000 USD in cash prizes will be awarded at the FUT Champions Cup Barcelona, including $22,000 for the winner. The remaining cash prizes will be distributed to the rest of the top 64. See below for details:
| From 65 to 128 | 0 |
| From 33 to 64 | $1,000 |
| From 17 to 32 | $2,500 |
| From 16 to 9 | $5,000 |
| From 8 to 5 | $8,000 |
| From 4 to 3 | $10,000 |
| 2 | $14,000 |
| 1 | $22,000 |
WHO WILL BE PARTICIPATING?
The top 128 competitors from around the world qualified for the FUT Champions Cup Barcelona by finishing at the top of the Global Weekend League Leaderboard back in November. The majority of the tournament is played against other competitors on the same console, but the Grand Final is played between the PlayStation 4 champion and the Xbox One champion.
Corentin “Vitality Rocky” Chevrey, last year’s FIFA Ultimate Team Championship Series champion, and FIFA Interactive World Cup 2017 winner Spencer “Unilad Gorilla” Ealing are just some of the well-known competitors that qualified for this tournament.
The full list of competitors to watch for in Barcelona can be found here.
WHAT IS THE TOURNAMENT FORMAT AND HOW DOES IT WORK?
EA are introducing a brand-new tournament format with this competition that is intended to increase the quality and quantity of matches, as well as ensure that only the best players move on from each stage.
MATCHES AND TIEBREAKERS
Each match will consist of 2 games between the same opponents. The winner will be determined by the aggregate score.
Throughout every stage of the tournament, including the Grand Final, if a match remains tied in aggregate score after the second game, there will be Extra Time and if needed, penalties will decide the winner.
GROUP STAGE
Each platform’s group stage will start with 64 players seeded based on their FUT Champions qualifying results, and it will end with 32 players qualifying for a single elimination Knock-out Stage with placement based on their group stage performance.
The group stage will be based on a Swiss-system tournament.
What this means is:
✔️ There will be 64 players in a single group.
✔️ All competitors are paired up for each match based on their record in the stage thus far, so everyone will only play against someone with their exact win-loss record.
✔️ Competitors will play up to seven matches (or fourteen games) in the Group Stage.
✔️ Competitors will not play two matches against the same opponent.
✔️ Competitors who earn four match wins will qualify to the Knock-out Stage
✔️ Competitors who register four match losses will be immediately eliminated from the tournament
KNOCKOUT STAGE
Each platform’s final 32 competitors down to 1
The 32 advancing competitors from each platform will be seeded into a single elimination bracket based on their record in the Group Stage. At the conclusion of the Knock-out Stage, each platform will have one competitor remaining, and the console winners will face off against each other in the Grand Final. The top eight competitors on each platform will secure a place in the FIFA 18 Global Series Playoffs to be played in June.
GRAND FINAL
The final stage of the FUT Champions Cup is the Grand Final, a two-game round between the winners of the PlayStation 4 Division and the Xbox One Division. One game is played on each console and the player with the highest aggregate score after the two games will win the FUT Champions Cup Barcelona, and the US $22,000 prize.