12 April 2010, Australia – Sam Mort of Sydney has just won the Live Qualifier Event in Australia and secured his place in the FIFA Interactive World Cup Grand Final 2010.

The FIFA Interactive World Cup is the world’s largest football gaming tournament. Organised by FIFA and presenting partners EA SPORTS™ and PlayStation® – the competition combines online and offline football tournaments played with EA SPORTS™ FIFA 10 on PlayStation®3.

As the champion of the Sydney Live Qualifier Event, Mort has won an all expenses paid trip to join a total of 32 of the world’s best virtual footballers at the Grand Final where they will compete for the title of FIFA Interactive World Player 2010 and a champion’s prize of US$20,000. The winner of the Grand Final will also receive a money can’t buy opportunity to attend the FIFA World Player Gala in 2010 where they will have the chance to meet some of the world’s elite male and female footballers.

Mort, a 24-year-old fan of both virtual and real life football, was one of hundreds of Australian gamers who gathered at the event which took place at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
 
“Overall it was a great tournament – there was a buzz in the air and it was good to be pit against some of the best. In total I scored around 50 goals and conceded only about five or six, a result I’m pretty happy with. I love the EA Sports FIFA franchise and I’m looking forward to representing Australia at the FIFA Interactive World Cup Grand Final,” he finished.  
 
The Live Qualifier Event in Sydney was one of 10 Live Qualifier Events that took place around the world in countries including Brazil, South Africa, Russia and Japan. All Live Qualifier Events took place between October 2009 and April 2010.
 
This year marks the sixth edition of the FIFA Interactive World Cup. Last year’s tournament witnessed over 515,000 players compete in the online qualification in an attempt to join the 19 winners from the Live Qualifier Events at the Grand Final in Barcelona, Spain. After a hardly fought Grand Final, 21-year-old Bruce Grannec from France was crowned the FIFA Interactive World Champion for 2009.
For further information about the FIFA Interactive World Cup please visit www.FIFA.com/FIWC.


Footage and Images of the Sydney FIFA Interactive World Cup Qualifier Event can be found on the FIFA Media Channel http://media.FIFA.com
 
To request the Official Emblem of the FIFA Interactive World Cup please fill out the marks request form for media on www.FIFAdigitalarchive.com