FIFA 22 Global Series Deep Dive

Sep 29, 2021

Hi everyone, my name is Rushan Shekar and I am the Deputy Commissioner of the FIFA Global Series (FGS). This year has a lot of new changes that we’re really excited about so to help ease you into it, we’re going to break it up into the following sections:

1. FUT Division Rivals
     Division Rivals becomes the premier game mode for those looking to prove their skills and qualify for competitions in the FIFA Global Series.
2. A New Generation
     FGS 22 moves from the last generation of consoles to PlayStation 5 for the most advanced FIFA yet.
3. Duo Global Series Ecosystem
     Team-based play enters the Global Series for the first time as both FUT Champions Cups will feature 2v2 competition with four players on the pitch at once.
4. Solo Global Series Ecosystem
     An avenue to showcase your skills 1v1 will remain as players compete on the Road to the FIFAe World Cup™.
5. New Countries
     We have 16 new countries joining us this season!
6. FGS Swaps
     FGS Swaps and other viewership rewards return with tiered drops! Get even more in-game items the more you watch along and support your favourite players.

Registration & FUT Division Rivals

Before we get to the really cool stuff, we should make a few things clear for those who want to prove they deserve to stand among the best. FUT Division Rivals has had a complete makeover and it’s where we’ll be looking for the next generation of FIFA stars. If you haven’t already, give the FUT 22 Pitch Notes a read.

To take part in either the Solo or Duo competitions, you’ll want to do the following:

1. Register and accept the Official Rules on the FIFA Global Series website starting October 4th, 2021 and ending December 31st, 2021
2. Compete in FUT Division Rivals, reach the Elite Division, and climb the ranks

Your FUT Divisions Rivals Elite Tier Skill Rating at the end of each FUT Division Rivals season is what determines your eligibility for online competitions like the FGS Open and FGS Qualifiers. Additionally, highly ranked registered players may receive additional perks like access to the Competitive Game Mode and early registration for the open bracket of the Team of the Season Cup. Remember, FUT Division Rivals as well as matches in the Competitive Game Mode will all use the new Competitive Settings.

A New Console Generation

A full year after the release of a new generation of consoles, FIFA esports is ready to make the move. All online and offline competitions run by EA will be offered exclusively on PlayStation 5. With the scale of the events that we aspire to put on, one single unified platform for play with support from the platform owner is integral to success. PlayStation was chosen as our partner for this based on their historic support of FIFA esports and to retain familiarity for our global FUT Champions Verified playerbase, the vast majority of whom are on PlayStation consoles.

Qualification for online tournaments will be handled through the combined PlayStation FUT Rivals rankings, but the Competitive game mode used in tournaments will only be available on newer generation hardware.

2v2 Team Play

With this upcoming season, we will embrace the social core of FIFA with an entire series of events focused on team-based competition. These are the events to be aware of:

Global Series Open

The FIFA Global Series Open consists of 16 online tournaments taking place from December 8th to 12th, 2021 with the following maximum team count:

• Buenos Aires Open - 128 Teams
• Dubai Open - 128 Teams
• Frankfurt Open - 128 Teams
• Johannesburg Open - 32 Teams
• Madrid Open - 128 Teams
• Mexico City Open - 64 Teams
• Miami Open - 64 Teams
• Milan Open - 128 Teams
• Paris Open - 128 Teams
• Portland Open - 64 Teams
• Sao Paulo Open - 128 Teams
• Singapore Open - 64 Teams
• Stockholm Open - 128 Teams
• Sydney Open - 32 Teams
• Tokyo Open - 32 Teams
• Washington Open - 64 Teams

The winner of each of the 16 Opens will earn a seat at the Team of the Year Cup, the first FUT Champions Cup of the year. To participate in the Global Series Open, the team captain of each team must play well in the first FUT Division Rivals season of the year ending on November 11th, 2021. The top ranked registered players at the end of the season in each region will receive an invitation to join.

You can find more information on which countries make up each of the Global Series Opens in Appendix B of the Official Rules.

Team of the Year Cup

The 16 teams from the Global Series Open will join 16 invited teams with a long history of successful results in the FIFA Global Series. If conditions allow, the Team of the Year Cup will be our first in-person global competition in two years!

The winning team of the Team of the Year Cup will earn a seat at the FIFAe Club World Cup 2022™ and the top 16 teams will also reserve themselves a spot in the Group Stage of the Team of the Season Cup in the spring, our biggest event of the season.

You’ll be able to watch the entire competition on Twitch and YouTube from January 21st - 23rd, 2022.

Team of the Season Cup

The Team of the Season Cup will consist of a Group Stage, a Championship Bracket, and if conditions allow, a large in-person 256 team open bracket. The Team of the Season Cup will be our largest celebration of FIFA yet and we hope to see everyone either in person or on Twitch and YouTube from April 29th to May 1st, 2022.

Group Stage

The 16 teams from the Team of the Season Cup will start the tournament in the Group Stage and be divided into 4 round robin groups. Each group will consist of 5 teams with the last spot left open for a team from the Open Bracket. Based on finish, teams will earn a spot in the Championship Bracket as follows:

• 1st & 2nd in each group will earn a seat in the Winner’s Bracket
• 3rd in each group will earn a seat in the Loser’s Bracket Round 3
• 4th in each group will earn a seat in the Loser’s Bracket Round 2
• 5th in each group will earn a seat in the Loser’s Bracket Round 1

Open Bracket

The on-site Open Bracket will consist of 256 teams and feature open registration. Some players may receive priority registration if they meet certain criteria such as:

• Top finishers in the latest season of FUT Division Rivals
• Placement in Online Tournaments

The Open Bracket will be a double elimination bracket. The four last remaining teams in the Winner’s Bracket will earn a spot in the Group Stage. The four last remaining teams in the Loser’s Bracket will earn a spot in Loser’s Bracket Round 1 of the Championship Bracket.

Championship Bracket

The Championship Bracket will consist of 24 teams and determine the overall winner of the event. 8 teams will start in the Winner’s Bracket and 16 teams in various stages of the Loser’s Bracket. The Championship Bracket will determine the overall winner of the event with the winner also earning a direct invitation to the FIFAe Club World Cup, the same as the winner of the Team of the Year Cup earlier in the season.

The two teams qualified for the FIFAe Club World Cup will be joined by 22 other clubs qualified via the FIFAe Club Series 2022™. Further information is available on FIFA.GG.  

The Team of the Season Cup’s format is subject to change based on direction from local health authorities.

The Road to the FIFAe World Cup

Although there’s a strong team emphasis with our FUT Champions Cup events and the FIFAe Club World Cup, we still want to leave room for individual achievement and pave a Road to the FIFAe World Cup.

Online Qualifiers

There will be four online qualifiers in every region this year. Players will earn Global Series Points towards their regional rankings on FIFA.GG. At the end of the season, the top players in each region’s rankings leaderboard will be invited to the Global Series Playoffs to join the top finishing players of partner league and federation events.

This season, we’ve split regions up into more manageable divisions to improve the gameplay experience. Below you’ll see the list of this season’s regions and the maximum number of players per qualifier in each. For more information on which of the following regions your country belongs to, please check out Appendix B of the Official Rules.

• Europe East - 256
• Europe West - 256
• LatAm South - 256
• LatAm North - 128
• Middle East - 128
• North America - 128
• Africa - 32
• Asia North - 32
• Asia South - 32
• Oceania - 32

Online Qualifiers with 32 or fewer players will be run in a Double Elimination format. Qualifiers with more players will have a Swiss stage followed by a Single Elimination stage. We understand the community’s strong desire for Swiss and are excited to bring this back. Unfortunately we’re unable to pair Swiss with double elimination this year as it would leave us unable to complete the tournament over two days without requiring 10+ matches per day.

Players will receive Global Series Points depending on their finish. Only the top finishing players in the elimination stage of each tournament will receive Global Series Points.

Online Qualifiers will take place on the following dates:

1. November 27th to 28th, 2021
2. February 12th to 13th, 2022
3. April 16th to 17th, 2022
4. Late May and Early June, 2022

Squad building requirements may vary from event to event and will be made available to players in advance of each Online Qualifier and the FGS Open. Players must play in the same Qualifier all year, tied to the country of residence upon registration.

League Events

A defining part of the FIFA Global Series is the ability to compete in and represent your favourite club in your domestic league. Our league partners will announce their esports plans over the coming days, weeks, and months. By competing, you’ll have the opportunity to earn a seat at the Global Series Playoffs.

The CONMEBOL eLibertadores and UEFA eChampions League events will also return to South America and Europe respectively. We’ll have more details on both events in the near future.

Global Series Playoffs

The final step before the FIFAe World Cup is the Global Series Playoffs. Roughly half of the participants for the Global Series Playoffs will earn their way there through their domestic league and federation programs. The other half will come from the Regional Rankings. Early next year, we will have a finalized number of participants from each region, but we would expect about 16 players from each of the Europe West, Europe East, and LatAm South regions to qualify for Playoffs through the Rankings with 2 - 4 from each of the other regional leaderboards. This number is based on the number of FUT Champions Verified players from previous years in the countries that make up each region. We will have a total of 128 players at the Global Series Playoffs through a combination of the Rankings and League Events.

The Global Series Playoffs will find 32 players who will qualify for the FIFAe World Cup. The 128 players will compete until 32 players are remaining, at which point, play will stop and we will have our FIFAe World Cup competitors!

Newly Eligible Countries

Every year we evaluate new countries to add to the Global Series so that residents of as many places as possible can compete. Not all of the places we investigated are ready for inclusion just yet, but we can confirm that the following new additions will be able to participate this year:

• Bosnia & Herzegovina
• Cyprus
• Dominican Republic
• El Salvador
• Georgia
• Ghana
• Honduras
• Kazakhstan
• Kenya
• Latvia
• Lebanon
• Mongolia
• Nigeria
• Panama
• Serbia
• Trinidad & Tobago

We welcome the players of these countries to the FIFA Global Series! For a full list of eligible regions, please check the Official Rules.

Watch More, Earn More.

We have an exciting evolution to our Live Viewership Rewards program for the FIFA 22 Global Series. In addition to the return of the highly popular FGS Swap Tokens, you will also be able to earn more rewards the more you watch the eligible events.

For the first time, you will be able to earn up to five rewards per eligible event. The rewards include one FGS Swap Token and a selection of FIFA 22 Global Series cosmetic items for your FUT club. 

Unlike last year, this season there will be a single release of FGS Swaps Tokens and their corresponding SBCs that will remain live throughout the FUT 22 cycle. The FGS Swaps rewards are as follows:

Look out for more information on FIFA 22 Competitive Gaming Viewership rewards coming out in the next few weeks!

Let’s Go

There are more ways to compete in FIFA than ever before. If you’re ready to prove that you deserve to stand among the top players of the game, then head on over to the official website and register starting October 4th. And if you want to make sure you don’t miss out on FGS Swaps Tokens or any of our tips and tricks from the top players in the game, keep an eye on Twitter and remember to follow the Twitch channel and subscribe on YouTube.

The FIFA team.

For more deep dives on FIFA from members of the game team, check out the Pitch Notes Page.

The FIFA 22 Ultimate Team season kick-offs on October 1st. Pre-order* the FIFA 22 Ultimate Edition to receive a guaranteed Ones To Watch Player and more.

Please Note: This article is describing in general terms what the Dev Teams are working on. We are constantly looking to improve the FIFA experience for everyone, so this article may become outdated as we make adjustments to keep our game fun for everyone.

FIFA 22 is available to pre-order** now for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Stadia, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

**Conditions and restrictions apply. Click here for details.

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