LaLiga's newly announced partnership with McDonalds could signal a new era for competitive FIFA.

With the exploding popularity of eSports – from DOTA 2 to LOL – more and more external companies are starting to make their moves and capitalize on such a passionate, excited community. Within the FIFA competitive space - after last year’s record pot for the FIWC 2017 (with a top prize of $200,000) - things are moving fast, with popular streamers such as Castro1021 racking up over 900,000 subscribers. In such a growing market EA is branching out its collaborations with external partners and footballing leagues around the world are beginning to latch on.

One product of this is the recent announcement from La Liga – Spain’s premier footballing league – of a new FIFA tournament in association with McDonalds, to decide Spain’s entry into the Global Series Playoffs. La Liga plays host to some of the biggest, most popular teams in world football, including Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid and by stepping into the world of competitive FIFA, the touchlines between the virtual and physical pitch are truly starting to blur.

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ArenaGG is the go to online gaming platform in Spain. (Image credit: LVP)

What is the structure of the event?                                

The first stage of qualifications takes place on the 19th of March, will be open to all players over 16 years old and will make use of ArenaGG platform, a growing part of Spain’s eSports organisation: the Professional Video Game League. Here, 31 places – 16 Xbox players and 15 Playstation players – will be available for qualification into the Global Series Playoffs.

A separate stage of proceedings takes place on the 16th of April at the LVP in Barcelona, where 16 players per platform will face off in person, to determine the next batch of entrants into the Global Series Playoffs. This ensures an even spread of events for the Spanish FIFA community, rather than closing things off for only the most seasoned professionals.

What role is McDonalds playing?

As a first foray into the eSports community, LaLiga has opted for McDonalds as their title sponsor. This role will see the creation of a third competition to decide the 16th Playstation entrant into the Global Series Playoffs. Partnerships of this kind show the growing popularity of the FIFA eSports brand and the willingness for market leaders to get in on the action, big steps that can only mean good things for future of FUT competitions.