23 March 2012 – Last night, the FIFA Interactive World Cup Australian Live Event for 2012 kicked off with pre-qualifying heats staged at EB Games stores in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Gold Coast and Rockhampton.

For the very first time, FIFA and presenting partners EA SPORTS™ and PlayStation® have given participants from all over the country the chance to compete taking the heats to five states across Australia.  The winner from each heat will now be flown to Sydney on April 4 for the FIWC 2012 Australian Grand Finale event at the Australian Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour, to compete against each other and determine Australia’s best player. 

And the heat winners from around the country are…roll the drums please:

Sydney (Top Ryde):   Mikko Quilala, 27y.o. from Green Valley, NSW.

Sydney (Miranda):      Adam Kharman, 17y.o. from Bankstown, NSW.

Melbourne:                  Kieran Murray, 21y.o. from Beaumaris, VIC.  

Adelaide:                     Charles Woodham, 20y.o. from Wattle Park, SA. 

Perth:                          Irshad Zamir, 21y.o. from Alexandra Heights, WA. 

Gold Coast:                 Todd Sekli, 17y.o. from Robina, QLD. 

Newcastle:                  Samuel Lage Liberato, 23y.o. from Brazil.

Rockhampton:            Matthew Ouston, 18 y.o. from Cooee Bay, Yeppoon, QLD. 

The Australian champion will then be invited to compete at the international Grand Final event later in the year, for their chance to win US$20,000 as well as being awarded their FIWC trophy at the annual FIFA Players Gala alongside such football luminaries as David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Ricardo Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Fernando Torres, Lionel Messi, Tim Cahill and many more.

The virtual football tournament loved by football fans across the globe, has now surpassed one million players participating in the annual tournament. Following the first ever FIWC in 2004, the tournament has grown significantly and in 2011 secured its place in the Guinness World Records as the largest online gaming tournament in the world. This year’s FIWC has already attracted over 130,000 more players than last year’s event, tipping it over the 1 million player mark for the first time in the tournament’s history.

As part of the celebrations, there will be a limited number of tickets for people to win to attend the Australian Grand Finale Event and witness the crowning of the Australian 2012 FIWC Champion.  To find out more on how you can win, visit:  http://facebook.com/fiwcaustralia,

 http://www.facebook.com/PlayStationAU  or http://www.facebook.com/FIFAaus

The FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC) combines online and offline football tournaments played with EA SPORTS™ FIFA 12 on PlayStation®3 (PS3™).