The 24 countries qualified for the FIFAe Nations Cup have their respective groups for the upcoming group stage.
National pride on the line
For most aspiring footballers, the pinnacle of competing in the beautiful game is representing one’s country at the World Cup. For EA Sports Fifa 21 fans, the FIFAe Nations Cup (FENC) is the next best thing.
Three players (two players and one sub) from each country that have qualified have been chosen and are getting ready to put their nation’s pride on the line in the hopes of winning the Nations Cup crown and the lion’s share of its outstanding $400,000 prize pool.
Unlike the FIFAe World Cup, the Nations Cup will follow a 2v2 format. The 24 teams that have qualified for the group stages are split into six groups of eight during the FIFAe Nations Cup Official Draw, which took place on June 18th.
The groupings:
Countries grouped will face each other in a round-robin format where the top four teams from each group will advance to the knockout stages. All matchups will be played on both the Xbox and PlayStation consoles.
Hometown heroes from host nation Denmark will test their metal against solid opponents from Italy and Qatar in group A. Esports giants from the United States and Germany are sure to have an exciting group B match-up.
Group C features tough contention for the top spot with Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Portugal fighting for it. Lastly, “group death” doesn’t disappoint and will see players from England, Mexico and France duke it out on the virtual pitch.
Players to watch out for Group A
The Netherlands’ Ali Riza “aaygun96” Aygun and Levi De Weerd didn’t lose a single match during the opening day of the European FENC online qualifiers and secured a seed into the finals without breaking a sweat. Ahmad Akmal “AkmalJHD” Abdul Rafil was Asia & Oceania’s top goal scorer. The Malaysian scored 28 goals in seven matches, with ten of those made in one game!
Group B
Teams in Group B will be looking out for Germany’s Umut “UMUT” Gültekin, who scored a whopping 39 goals in 17 matches to take the title of top goal scorer at the European FENC online qualifiers.
The Germans finished as runners-up for Europe, arguably one of the most competitive regions for competitive Fifa 21. In addition, F.C. Cincinnati’s Gordon “Fiddle” Thornsberry and D.C. United’s Mohamed “KingCJ0” Alioune Diop, the current eMLS number one and two, will be playing for the United States.
Group C
Players in Group C will have difficulty matching up with former FIFAe World Cup winner Musaad “Msdossary” Aldossary. The Saudi Arabian FIFAe star will be pairing up with fellow West Asia stand-out Meshaal Alhubish. Msdossary earned the top scorer title with a 31 goal performance in 12 games in his regional qualifiers.
Group D
The lineup of teams in Group D certainly lives up to its “group death” nickname. It will be interesting to see how the other nations will strategize their play in preparation for two of the most prolific EA Sports FIFA players from England, Hashtag United’s Thomas “Tom” Leese and FNATIC’s superstar Donovan “Tekkz” Hunt.
Despite that, getting through East Asia’s FIFAe World Cup representative Japan’s Jun “Jay” Tanoiri will be a challenge in itself. Then there’s team Mexico. Complexity Gaming’s Joksan “Joksan” Redona has won three FIFA 21 Global Series NA qualifiers and is a former FIFAe Club World Cup winner and is the current Club World Cup North America champion.
You can catch all the action of the FIFAe Nations Cup from August 20-22 and will be streamed live on FIFA.gg and the FIFAe World Cup Twitch channel.
