FIFA Interactive World Cup details
How to get involved in EA's FIFA-sanctioned tourney.
Electronic Arts has announced further details of its FIFA Interactive World Cup competition, which kicks off - in association with FIFA itself, naturally - on the pitches of FIFA Football 2005 this October.
The tournament will travel to six continents between October and the finals in December, and more than 8,000 players are expected to participate (plus contestants drawn from the Xbox Live community).
You can head to the official website now to sign up, and then it's up to you to get to your local qualifying tournament, which feeds into regional tournaments and then the finals, which will be hosted in Zurich - with a final trophy presented by FIFA president Sepp Blatter at the FIFA World Player Gala in December.
The FIFA Interactive World Cup will travel to eight cities - Johannesburg (Oct 23rd), New York (Oct 30th), Rio de Janeiro (Nov 6th), Sydney (Nov 13th), London (Nov 20th), Seoul (Nov 30th), Paris (Dec 4th) and Berlin (Dec 11th) - before culminating in Zurich on December 19th, so there should be plenty of chances to get involved. And you won't have to stand around all the time either - there will be all sorts of side attractions including football coaching and live DJ sets going on nearby.
Or, if you prefer, you can qualify by earning a place on Xbox Live using FIFA Football 2005, which is due out on October 15th. Check out the website for more details.