Not long until kick off...
Leyton Orient’s awaited FIFA Ultimate Quaranteam tournament starts tonight with 64 fixtures due to take place over the next few days.
The tournament was developed in a huge fundraising effort aiming to raise £100,000 to help both the club's financial struggles and two very worthy courses in the mental health charity ‘MIND’, and the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fundraiser by WHO. You can donate to the fundraiser here.
Football teams from all over the world are set to participate being represented by a mixture of fans, professional football players and some of the world’s best e-sports players. Premier League stars such as Andros Townsend and Neal Maupay are set to pick up the controllers for their respected clubs.
If you are wondering whether your team is taking part or who they are coming up against in the first stage we have the full list of fixtures here:
1. Accrington Stanley vs Wycombe Wanderers
2. Leyton Orient vs Lokomotiv Moscow
3. Reading vs Crystal Palace
4. DC United vs Celta Vigo
5. Stevenage vs Blackpool
6. Norwich City vs Fleetwood Town
7. Standard Liège vs Bolton Wanderers
8. AS Fiorentina vs Nottingham Forest
9. Walsall vs AS Roma
10. Huddersfield vs Middlesbrough
11. Central Coast Mariners vs Shamrock Rovers
12. Plymouth Argyle vs ESTAC Troyes
13. Aston Villa vs VVV-Venlo
14. Hibernian vs Millwall
15. Sheffield United vs Carlisle United
16. Peterborough United vs Exeter City
17. AFC Wimbledon vs West Ham United
18. Manchester City vs KV Kortrijk
19. Cork City vs Ross County
20. Djugården Fotboll vs PSV Eindhoven
21. Nantes vs Swindon Town
22. Newcastle United vs Gillingham
23. Bristol Rovers vs Southend United
24. Orlando Pirates vs FC Sion
25. West Bromwich Albion vs AFC Ajax
26. Mansfield Town vs KAA Gent
27. Colchester United vs Rotherham United
28. Preston North End vs Doncaster Rovers
29. Sydney vs Barnsley
30. Grimsby Town vs Motherwell
31. Burton Albion vs Sligo Rovers
32. Adelaide United vs Wolves
33. Oxford United vs Lille
34. Lorient vs KV Mechelen
35. Crawley Town vs RKC Waalwijk
36. RB Salzburg vs Derby County
37. Stoke City vs Blackburn Rovers
38. Forest Green Rovers vs Northampton Town
39. Brentford vs St Mirren
40. Oldham Athletic vs Finn Harps
41. Waterford vs Angers SCO
42. Melbourne Victory vs Ipswich Town
43. Scunthorpe United vs Charlton Athletic
44. FC Emmen vs Port Vale
45. Vitesse vs Atalanta
46. MK Dons vs Heracles Almelo
47. Sheffield Wednesday vs Cambridge United
48. PEC Zwolle vs FC Groningen
49. ADO Den Haag vs Willem II
50. KRC Genk vs Luton Town
51. Rochdale vs Coventry City
52. Derry City vs QPR
53. Fortuna Sittard vs Newport County
54. Birmingham City vs Sunderland
55. Brighton & Hove Albion vs Sparta Rotterdam
56. Orlando City vs Feyenoord
57. Amiens vs Watford
58. Olympique Marseille vs İstanbul Başakşehir
59. Cheltenham Town vs Salford City
60. Portsmouth vs Dundalk
61. AZ Alkmaar vs FC Utrecht
62. Morecambe vs Hamilton Academical
63. Burnley vs Shrewsbury Town
64. PAOK vs FC Midtjylland
Looking at the fixtures to take place in the first round we have picked out some feature matches displaying footballer vs football, e-sports player vs e-sports player and what could potentially be a big upset.
Football vs Footballer
READING (best price 11-10) go into the first round with a matchup against Premier League club Crystal Palace. We have been treated to a professional footballer match up with Reading’s Tom McIntyre vs Crystal Palace’s Andros Townsend. Both players are known to enjoy a game of FIFA or two in their spare time. Tom has been seen participating in the FIFA weekend league so therefore understands the competitive side of the game and the custom tactic setups to get the most out of his team in both offensive and defensive phases of play. Based on this I’m going to have to side with the Reading man in the first round of the Quaranteam tournament.
Pro FIFA player vs Pro FIFA player
FC SION (best price 5-11) who come up against Orlando Pirates in the first round. This is an interesting matchup as both teams are fielding e-sports players both around a similar calibre. This is split upon a knifes edge as much as most as these fixtures can be. However, based on accolades won by Sion’s representative such as dual Vice Swisschampion and multiple qualifications for FIFA championships, vs Orlando Pirates player are moving the decision more in favour of the Swiss side.
Potential upset
SWINDON (best price 6-1) are up against Nantes who are fielding FIFA legend Bruce Grannec to represent them in the tournament. However, don’t let that distract you from Swindon's hidden gem in Cameron McGilp. Cameron is a professional footballer who often streams on Twitch and is known to have received a few 30-0 records in the weekend league. For two players who both know the mechanics of the game I feel 6/1 is a brilliant price for what could be a more even match up than meets the eye.
