FIFA, the world's governing body of football, Electronic Arts and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe today announced the official kick-off of the second phase of the 2010 FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC) online competition.

This year's FIWC season has been split into two phases to ensure that even more players have the opportunity to compete in the tournament. The first phase, which concluded on 18 December 2009, saw over 400,000 players from around the world compete online on EA SPORTS FIFA 10 on the PlayStation 3 to secure the first 11 places at this year's FIWC Grand Final, which will take place at Port Olympic in Barcelona on 1 May 2010.

The online leaderboard from phase one of FIWC 2010 has now been wiped clean, giving those players who weren't able to participate or didn't make it into the top ten another shot at claiming one of the remaining 11 online Grand Final spots.

To participate in phase two of the FIWC 2010 tournament online, players can register directly inside EA SPORTS FIFA 10 on PS3 from 5 January 2010 and start competing right away*. Alternatively, live qualifier events for an additional nine Grand Final places will take place at the following locations:

Australia
Sydney - 9th-11th April

Brazil
Sao Paulo - 27th March

France
Paris - 12th-14th March

Italy
Milan - March

Japan
Tokyo - 21st March

Denmark
Copenhagen - 13th March

Poland
Warsaw - 6th February

South Africa
Johannesburg - 6th March

UK
London - 22 March

Following the culmination of the 2009 Grand Final in Barcelona, FIWC World Champion Bruce Grannec from France was officially crowned at the FIFA World Player Gala 2010 in December. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet some of the world's greatest football stars in person.

"To attend the FIFA World Player Gala was an amazing experience. I met Lionel Messi, Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo, and some of the most important personalities in football," said Grannec.

"This is truly the best motivation for defending my title, even though this will be very difficult."

* For full FIWC 2010 tournament terms and conditions, please see www.fifa.com/fiwc. Phase 2 online qualification will begin at approximately 10pm PST on 5 January 2010 (6am GMT 6 January 2010). At this time, the servers supporting FIFA 10 online gameplay will be taken offline briefly.