New Zealand Football has named its first eFootball National Team following a nationwide competition to find the best EA SPORTS FIFA players in Aotearoa. 

The squad is confirmed as Joshua King (21, gamertag: DW_JMKKing), Sean Baines (24, Gamertag: Bainsey5416) and Campbell Knowles (22, Gamertag: honurbly_airbrn). The players selected were the winner (King), finalist (Baines) and semi-finalist (Knowles) in the NZF eTrophy 2021, held 9 April in Auckland. 

The team will now take part in their debut international competition, the FIFAe Nations Series, kicking off with Joshua King and Sean Baines competing in the FIFAe Nations Online Qualifiers from 29 April – 1 May. The FIFAe Nations Series sees 60 national teams competing in five regional qualifiers. The 23 best teams, plus hosts Denmark, will qualify for the FIFAe Nations Cup 2021 in Copenhagen from 20-22 August and compete for a total prize pool of $500,000 (US) / $697,000 (NZ).

“This is an exciting new direction for New Zealand Football” says Dan Farrow, General Manager of Football at New Zealand Football. 

“eFootball is a sport that is only getting bigger each year and we are delighted to now be able to field a full national team to represent ourselves on the global stage.”

The eFootball team will be the tenth New Zealand Football national team following the Men’s Football U17, U20, U23 and Senior, Women’s Football U17, U20 and Senior, Men’s Futsal and Women’s Futsal. 

Article added: Friday 23 April 2021