With the COVID-19 pandemic putting a stop to most professional sporting events, video games are doing the heavy lifting. Last month, the F1 Grand Prix took place not in the real world but on Twitch, in F1 2019. Now, the English Premier League is taking to the virtual grounds of FIFA 20.
The ePremier League Invitational Tournament will start tomorrow and run for a week, with “familiar faces” from each of the Premier League’s 20 teams. The matches will be broadcast on Sky Sports, but also on Facebook and YouTube. It’s a knockout tournament played across 19 matches, with players such as Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold, Manchester’s Raheem Sterling, and Sheffield’s Lys Mousset among the confirmed players.
According to the announcement, the tournament’s prize fund will be donated to the #PlayersTogether initiative, which raises funds for the UK’s National Health Service. Four matches will take place every day, airing from midday BST time until Friday (April 24). Semi-finals and finals will air from 3pm BST on April 25.
You can see the schedule on the Premier League website.