The new season of the FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC), the world's only official FIFA global football gaming competition, is now in full swing and a record number of people are participating. The FIWC is a season-long 1v1, points-based tournament in which competitors from all around the world participate playing EA SPORTS FIFA 10 on PlayStation 3.

This year marks the sixth FIWC season. Players will be able to compete for their spot in the Grand Final at one of 10 FIWC Live Qualifier Events across the globe, taking place in Australia, Brazil, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Poland, Russia, South Africa and the UK, or by playing online. For the first time in the tournament's history, the online competition of the FIWC via PlayStation Network will be split into two seasons. Season one started with the launch of FIFA 10 on 2 October and concludes on 18 December 2009. The 10 best players of season one from across the FIFA confederations will go through to the Grand Final, which will take place at Port Olympic in Barcelona on 1 May 2010*. Players who didn't make it during season one have another shot at their spot in the Grand Final in season two, which kicks off on 4 January 2010 and concludes on 31 March 2010. Registration for participating in the online leg of the FIWC 10 tournament takes place directly inside the retail version of FIFA 10 on PS3.

Alongside the 2009 FIWC champion, Bruce Grannec from France, the 31 finalists will compete to be crowned FIFA Interactive World Champion of the Year, rewarded with an invitation to the FIFA World Player Gala along with a $20,000 USD cash prize. The runner up will receive $5,000 USD, while the player coming third will be awarded $1,000 USD. More than 500,000 players competed for a shot in the Grand Final at last year's FIFA Interactive World Cup.

So get involved today and test your FIFA skills amongst the world's best.

Registrations

This Year: 310,311 (47% more than this time last year)