The preeminent EA SPORTS FIFA 23 tournament in North America is here.
The 2023 eMLS Cup begins this weekend in Austin, Texas at the 2023 SXSW conference. Following the online qualifiers of eMLS League Series 1 and 2, competitors have been seeded into both the eMLS Cup tournament on Sunday as well as the Last Chance Qualifier happening Saturday.
Here’s how it all works.
Portland Timbers competitor Bruno “CptBruno” Albino has battled it out over the course of League Series 1 and 2 online and in New York City earlier this winter. Via those online qualifiers, CptBruno ended in 12th place—one spot out of the top 11 automatic qualified players for the eMLS Cup tourney.
But he’s not out of it yet.
eMLS Last Chance Qualifier
Albino will join the other 14 players who finished 12th-26th in a one-day Last Chance Qualifier tournament at Austin FC’s Q2 Stadium (10:30am PT, @TimbersFC Twitch). That tournament begins with four groups of round-robin play—one group with three players and the other three groups with four—with the top two finishers in each group advancing to a double-legged elimination bracket to winnow down to one Last Chance Qualifier champion. That winner will snag the 12th and final seed in the Sunday’s eMLS Cup.
CptBruno, on the strength of finishing 12th overall in the online qualifiers is the top seed in the LCQ. As such, he’s placed in the three-team Group A alongside LAFC's Pabs (19th overall) and FC Cincinnati’s Cissé (20th overall) with a strong chance to move on.
Gameplay begins with group stage play at 10:30am PT on the Timbers Twitch channel.
eMLS Cup
Sunday, at the historic ACL Live theatre downtown Austin, the eMLS Cup tournament will begin play (12pm PT, @MLS Twitch). There, the Last Chance Qualifier winner will be placed as the 12th seed. For this day of play, there’s no group stage play. It’s win or be eliminated.
The top four seeds coming out of the League Series events will have already received a bye to the quarterfinals. Round 1 of the bracket will be a single leg matchup with the quarterfinals on to the grand final consisting of two-leg, aggregate score matchups.
At play is a $50,000 prize pool and seats to the EA SPORTS FIFA 23 Global Series Playoffs as well as to the EA SPORTS FIFA 23 Global Series Play-Ins. eMLS is a Tier 1 North American Qualifier.
The prize winnings and seats distribute as follows:
- 1st place: $20,000 + Direct Seat to the EA Global Series Playoffs
- 2nd place: $10,000 + Direct Seat to the EA Global Series Playoffs
- 3rd – 4th: $4,000 + Direct Seat to the EA Global Series Play Ins
- 5th – 8th: $2,000 each
- 9th – 12th: $1,000 each
Atlanta United FC’s Paulo Neto is the reigning eMLS Cup champ having captured the trophy last year in Austin. Neto also won the 2023 League Series 1 and 2 events putting him on a three-trophy roll.
For Fans
Find yourself in Austin and want to attend? eMLS Cup is open to the public. Reserve your complimentary ticket here.
Fans in attendance will also be treated to a post-party concert with a soon-to-be-announced recording artist. In addition, there will be limited-edition eMLS giveaways, an area to create your own personalized FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) card, stations to play EA SPORTS™ FIFA on PlayStation 5 and more.
Meanwhile, online viewers who link their Twitch and EA accounts will have the opportunity to earn exclusive in-game rewards. Prizes – gained by watching at least 60 minutes – include an eMLS crest, tifo, kits, stadium dressing, and an FGS Player Swap Token. Additionally, fans can play along with a gamification platform, answering questions and making predictions in order to climb the leaderboard and win prizes. The top ten fans on the leaderboard at the end of the broadcast will win MLSstore.com gift cards, DoorDash gift cards and EA SPORTS™ FIFA points*.
Finally, a Playstation eMLS Fan Cup online tournament will run Sunday night between 4:15-8:15pm PT. Sign up on your PS5 to play.
*eMLS Cup Contest will take place during the eMLS Cup broadcast on March 12. No Purchase Necessary. Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S./D.C. and Canada (excluding Quebec) 18 years of age and older. Void in Quebec and where prohibited. Subject to complete Official Rules at www.twitch.tv/mls.
