EA announces FC 25 Pro League with new Open Cups and $1m World Championship

With FC 25's release, any Tom, Dick, or Harry Kane can become the World Champion with more ways to compete than ever before.

20th Sep 2024 14:13

Images via EA

EA FC Pro

For a long time, there was quite a big gap between the general football game player and the elite 1% that turned the popular series into a serious esport.

For EA FC, this was flipped, as the newly-rebranded franchise saw a big revamp of its esports circuit and increased its viewership significantly.

Now, with FC 25's launch, EA has announced the new circuit for the upcoming year, including the Pro League, Open Cups, and the World Championship.

FC 25 Esports includes Open circuit, new Cups, and Pro League

To celebrate the launch of FC 25, EA has revealed its Pro Open Ladder, which will kick off on October 1, just days after the game releases in full.

The Open circuit applies to any Ultimate Team player in the world who has progressed through to Division 3 on Rivals, where you can play online qualifiers against the best players in your region to try and qualify for the regional qualifiers, and the global finals in London.

There will be 17 slots available for Ultimate Team players, who will earn a slice of the $1 million prize pool, alongside seven previously qualified players from last year's circuit; "PHzin", "Vejrgang", "Levi de Weerd", and "Emre Yilmaz" will be auto-seeded through the FC 24 Pro Open, while second to fourth from the World Championships ("xcharif", "Yuval", and "Jafonso") will be in attendance too.

There will also be brand-new Open Cups for players to compete in throughout the year, accessed through Division Rivals, running alongside the Pro League, which will lead to the World Championship.

Last year, more than 100,000 viewers watched the FC Pro Open Finals, as the in-game promo prompted fans to get more invested with special Ultimate Team cards. 

As for the in-game viewership rewards, which were first introduced in FC 24, EA has not yet outlined whether this will be integrated again, although we can reveal that the team is keen on bringing back the FC Pro promo and other rewards.

Speaking to GGRecon while at the Apex Legends Global Series Split 2 Playoffs, EA's Monica Dinsmore said, "We've definitely seen some success there, and want to do it again."

"For esports viewers to go back and watch, learn, and play again and be rewarded for it, that very special from a players perspective. I think we got a lot of great feedback, and we're lucky to have devs that are invested and want to spend time on these types of incentives."

Jack Marsh

About The Author

Jack Marsh

Jack is an Esports Journalist at GGRecon. Graduating from the University of Chester, with a BA Honours degree in Journalism, Jack is an avid esports enthusiast and specialises in Rocket League, Call of Duty, VALORANT, and trending gaming news.

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