eSports: Premier League and EA Sports to launch the ePremier League on FIFA in January 2019

EA Sports, a US video game publisher, has extended its partnership with the Premier League by "launching the ePremier League (ePL), offering UK-based players the chance to represent their favourite Premier League club (on the FIFA video game) for the first time in competitive gaming," announced the two entities on 04/10/2018. The ePL will be managed by Gfinity, an eSports tournament organiser.

Registration for the tournament will begin on 03/12/2018. "The ePL competitive gaming tournament on EA Sports FIFA 19 kicks off in January 2019 and players aged 16 and over will compete for three months across three rounds: online qualification, live club playoffs and the eventual live ePL Final," said the Premier League. Each Premier League club will be represented in the playoffs.

The final of the competition will be contested in "London (ENG) on 28-29/03/2019, and broadcast live on Sky Sports (pay-TV) and the Premier League's social media channels. All 20 Premier League clubs will have a live playoff round allowing two EA Sports FIFA 19 competitors, one per platform (PlayStation 4 and Xbox…