Everton Agree ‘E-Friendly’ With David Beckham’s Inter-Miami CF
Everton Football Club will create a virtual link-up with David Beckham’s Inter Miami CF this weekend, with Blues star Richarlison set to take on Miami forward Julian Carranza in a three-game FIFA20 tournament.
The ‘eFriendly’ will see the two players do battle in a pair of games using club sides of their choice and also play for national team pride as Brazil and Argentina respectively.
As well as showing off their FIFA skills, Richarlison and Carranza will also answer questions about their careers and interests, with the tournament set to air on Everton official club channels from 5pm (BST) on 4 July, American Independence Day.
An exclusive competition will also see supporters offered the chance to win Everton and Inter Miami CF shirts signed by the two players, with details of how to enter to be revealed as part of the broadcast.
Richarlison has notched 26 goals in 72 appearances since joining Everton from fellow Premier League side Watford in summer 2018, earning his Brazil debut during his time at Goodison Park and going on to become a regular for the five-times World Cup winners.
Carranza, 20, has represented Argentina at Under-17 level and been part of his nation’s Under-20 squad, and joined Miami in January this year ahead of the club’s inaugural MLS campaign.
ELIONS SET TO TAKE ON EUROPE
England will join a host of European nations in coming together this summer for FIFA eFootball Play x Unite 2020, a new eight-team esports competition.
The invitational tournament will see elite representatives from across the continent do battle on the virtual pitches of the popular FIFA 20 video game with Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Italy, Sweden and Portugal also set to put forward a PS4 and Xbox representative.
FIFA eFootball Play x Unite 2020 gets underway on Monday 6 July with nations initially being split into sub-tournaments of four which each include a group stage, knockout round and final before the competition culminates in a grand final on Wednesday 22 July.
Matches will be played via the FIFA Ultimate Team format using equally-matched national team players with scores aggregated across PS4 and Xbox. England will be represented by the eLions – Donovan Hunt (Tekkz) and Tom Leese (HashtagTom_) – who won the right to wear the Three Lions in March 2019. The pair have been placed in a group with counterparts from Germany, Poland and Switzerland.
Tom said: “To represent England is always an honour and I’m looking forward to linking up with Tekkz again as my international teammate for this tournament.”
Tekkz added: “It should be fun but at the same time we will be playing to win. There are a lot of good players involved from other nations but we are confident we can do well”.
Live coverage of the eLions’ matches will be powered by LG, one of The FA’s official partners, and hosted by presenter Rachel Stringer across England’s Twitter and YouTube channels. Match commentary will be provided by the English voices of FIFA esports, Brandon Smith and Richard Buckley.
England’s group-stage schedule is as follows:
5pm BST, Monday 6 July: England vs Poland
6pm BST, Monday 6 July: Germany vs England
7pm BST, Monday 6 July: Switzerland vs England
5pm BST, Tuesday 7 July: England vs Switzerland
6pm BST, Tuesday 7 July: England vs Germany
7pm BST, Tuesday 7 July: Poland vs England
The eLions will then take part in at least one knockout game from 5pm BST on Wednesday 8 July and, if successful, will then go into the group final on Friday 10 July.
Group two – containing Italy, Sweden, Belgium and Portugal – will play out their games in the week commencing Monday 13 July, with a grand final between the two group winners taking place at 7pm BST on Wednesday 22 July.
