Spain’s Alfonso Ramos is the new FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC) champion after triumphing over FIWC 2009 champion Bruce Grannec to win the thrilling final in Dubai. Ramos is the first person to have won the tournament twice, having taken the FIWC champion title in 2008, and has now netted himself a cool 20,000USD grand prize, a ticket to the Ballon d’Or Gala and the prestigious accolade of being crowned the 2012 FIFA Interactive World Cup Champion.

With six online seasons, eleven live qualification events held worldwide, a record-breaking 1,300,000 participants and a breathtaking Grand Final staged by FIFA and Presenting Partners EA SPORTS and Sony PlayStation in the exclusive Jumeirah Resort in Dubai, the FIWC continues to set a formidable standard in the world of gaming.

After a tense 90 minutes the match ended with a stalemate as both Grannec and Ramos both struggled to break down their opponent’s rear-guard. After an equally tight extra-time period the match went to a decisive penalty shootout with plenty of opportunities for both players to win. However, Ramos stayed cool under pressure and struck the 20,000USD winning penalty.

The FIFA Interactive World Cup 2012 Grand Final was about more than just virtual football. The finalists enjoyed an incredible three-day visit to Dubai which included visiting the Burj Kalifa, the world’s tallest building, getting the chance to meet and play football with former FIFA World Cup winners Christian Karembeu and Luca Toni along with enjoying all the thrills and spills that Wild Wadi waterpark had to offer. The 24 Grand Finalists’ adventure in Dubai may be over, but their memories of it will live on forever.

Ralph Straus, FIFA’s Head of Strategy & Brand Management commented, “We are delighted to crown the first ever FIWC Champion to win the event on two separate occasions. The number of players competing in the FIWC this year represents yet another record-breaking achievement with our online community growing dramatically year on year. We are looking forward to further strengthening our collaboration with our Presenting Partners, EA Sports and Sony PlayStation, to develop and drive the online growth of this remarkable initiative.”

Nick Caplin, Head of Communications, SCEE added, “PlayStation would like to congratulate Alfonso Ramos on his fantastic victory in this year’s FIFA Interactive World Cup. This year’s tournament has been an incredible success with over 1.3m players playing via PlayStation Network and we look forward to taking the tournament from strength to strength in the coming years.”

Jon Rosenblatt, Senior Marketing Director, EA Sports, Europe and Asia, added, “Tonight’s incredibly skilled and thrilling finale provided a suitable end to this year’s competition and Alfonso Ramos is a worthy champion. The FIFA Interactive World Cup 2012 has seen the strongest field of competitors ever and to emerge as the Champion is testament to his skills on the virtual pitch – congratulations!”

Streamed live for the very first time to an online audience, the popularity of the tournament continues to soar as fans all over the world were able to join in and witness the tension and excitement first hand Ramos’s success in the 2012 FIWC Grand Final.

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The FIFA Interactive World Cup, the world largest online gaming tournament, has beaten its own Guinness World Record. This years FIWC has seen over 1 million players play in attempt to become World Champion.

And now the FIWC is headed east to Dubai’s Jumeirah Beach Hotel for the eighth FIWC Grand Final. The Final will take place from 21-23 May 2012, where 24 finalists will be flown to Dubai for a once-in-a-lifetime experience and a shot at taking the FIWC Champion crown from last year’s winner Francisco Cruz. As well as this, the finalists will get to sample all the city has to offer from indoor skiing to desert tours, as well as visiting Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.

Former FIFA World Cup champion Christian Karembeu has today been unveiled as an official FIWC ambassador and will be present at the tournament and keeping a close eye on proceedings. Karembeu, part of the Task Force Football 2014 and a member of FIFA’s Technical Study Group who assess the performance of players at FIFA events, will be hoping to test himself against some of the world’s best FIFA 12 players to see how his skills match up on the virtual pitch.

Eleven gamers from seven different countries have already qualified for the Dubai Grand Final, meaning that there are still 14 places up for grabs. Do you think you’re good at FIFA 12? Prove it!

You can participate in this year’s FIWC through the on-going online tournament played on the PlayStation Network, by registering ‘in-game’ in FIFA12 on your PS3. For more information on the FIWC, go to: www.fifa.com/fiwc. This year’s Champion will walk away with USD 20,000 and an invitation to attend the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2012.

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PlayStation has been teaming up with FIFA and EA Sports for several years to bring the world’s greatest virtual football competition, the FIFA Interactive World Cup, to our consoles. This year, the competition has reached an important milestone and our friends of FIFA have sent over this news story.

FIFA and Presenting Partners EA Sports and PlayStation are delighted to announce that this year’s edition of the FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC) has reached a significant milestone, with one million players now registered for the tournament.

The world’s largest virtual football tournament has been part of FIFA’s event portfolio since 2004, initially beginning as live consumer events. The introduction of PS3 and its online playing mode for FIWC 09, through PlayStation Network had a huge impact on the reach of the event, resulting in exponential growth in participant figures, highlighted by the growth from 28,000 players in 2008 to one million in 2012.

Having been awarded a place in the prestigious Guinness World Records as the largest online gaming tournament in the world for FIWC 10 (775,000 players) and FIWC 11 (869,543 players), the event has broken all of its own records once more, reaching the one million mark with more than two months remaining before the qualifying for the Grand Final of the event closes.

Contestants can still participate in this year’s FIWC through an online tournament played on the PlayStation Network, by registering ‘in-game’ in FIFA ’12 on their PS3. For more information on the FIWC, go to: www.fifa.com/fiwc.

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Fancy $20,000? ‘Course you do, read on…

Every year PlayStation, EA and FIFA host the FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC). This tournament sees gamers duke it out on the latest EA SPORTS FIFA title to determine which player is the greatest in the world. The prize? $20,000 USD and an invite to the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala 2012.

This year there’s 2 ways to get started in the competition. First, you can try your luck competing in online matches, using EA SPORTS FIFA 12 and a PS3. The second is by participating in a Live Qualifier event.

At a Live Qualifier you’ll be pitted against 32 fellow FIFA players in a knock-out tournament. Reach the final fixture of the Live Qualifier tournament and you go through to the UK FIWC Final. Win the UK final and we’ll fly you out to NYC to face finalists from the rest of the world. Beat them all and the $20K is all yours!

Details of this year’s UK Live Qualifiers can be found below:

• 16th January 2012: Manchester | 63 Deansgate, Manchester
• 28th January 2012: Glasgow | 211 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow
• 19th February 2012: London | Venue TBC

To register you’ll need to drop us an email during the registration periods listed below. If you’re selected, we’ll reply to your email with an invite to the Live Qualifier!

• Manchester registration window: 12PM – 1PM Thursday 12th January
• Glasgow registration window: 12PM – 1PM Wednesday 18th January
• London registration window: 12PM – 1PM Wednesday 1st February

You should send your email to accesslive@scee.net with the subject line FIWC [VENUE] (replace VENUE with the venue you wish to register for – Manchester, Glasgow or London). Emails sent before or after the registration periods, or which don’t use the correct subject line, will not be counted!

You should join us on the PlayStation Access Facebook page and we’ll remind you when the registration windows are about to open, as well as provide you with loads more information about the FIWC Live Qualifiers: http://facebook.com/playstationaccess

A whole host of other information about the live qualifiers can be found on the FIWC website: http://www.fifa.com/interactiveworldcup/index.html and you can keep up with the FIWC on twitter by following http://twitter.com/FIWC

Good luck!

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The FIFA Interactive World Cup 2012 kicks off TODAY.

Do you think you have what it takes to beat the best players on earth and be crowned the World Champion? As well as this the FIWC12 Grand Prize includes $20,000 in prize money, the FIFA Interactive World Player award and a VIP trip to the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala. Worth putting your skills to the test don’t you think?

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