Ahead of the 2022 ePremier League competition, some of the professional FIFA players involved have declared their unhappiness about the equipment provided at the event.
The ePremier League is the Premier League's official esports event, with the grand finals of the competition set to take place on FIFA 22 this weekend on March 26 and March 27, 2022, with the event live on various platforms, including Sky Sports, Twitch and more. But, ahead of the finals, several of the professional FIFA 22 players who will be competing at the event are taking to social media to voice their concerns over the 'unacceptable' equipment that the players will use at the event.
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Players such as Tom Leese (Excel and Tottenham ), Spencer 'Gorilla' Owen (Excel and Tottenham), Tom Stokes ( Watford and Hashtag United) and Alex Shaw ( Watford and Hashtag United) have taken to social media to voice their fury about having to compete on 50in TVs for the event, rather than gaming monitors. Gaming monitors are commonly used in major esports events, as they have several key advantages over TVs in regards to gaming, the principle of which is reduced latency and input lag. The Premier League, BLAST and EA Sports are involved in organising the tournament.
"So in 2022, the biggest league in the world has organised a huge, broadcasted competitive FIFA event that will have cost probably 7 figures to put together but we've been told it is being played on 50 inch TVs," said Tom Stokes (Watford and Hashtag United) on Twitter (@StokesFIFA).
And Tom Leese, professional FIFA player for Excel and Tottenham, and former winner of the ePremier League said via Twitter: "Biggest tournament of the season with a £100,000 prize pool and we're being made to use 50 INCH TVs!!!"
"Please fix this before tomorrow's event. Yours sincerely, every player and viewer of the ePremier League."
Mirror Football has contacted EA Sports, BLAST and the Premier League for an official response to this story.
The prize money for the competition has been increased to its highest level this year, with a prize pool totalling £100,000. There are also three seats on offer for the best-ranking players in the ePremier League Global Series Playoffs, with the winner of the competition set to take home £30,000.
The 2022 version of the ePremier League is the first in-person ePremier League event since the inaugural event in 2019, when Liverpool and Donovan 'Tekkz' Hunt took home the trophy. Since then, Excel's Tom Leese, formally of Hashtag United, and Manchester City's Shellzz have won the competition in online events. Tekkz and Tom will be competing for Liverpool and Tottenham respectively this year, but City's Shellzz failed to qualify for the finals in what was a major shock.
ePremier League 2021/22 Grand Finals key dates
Saturday 26 March (11-10pm GMT) |
Group Stages |
Sunday 27 March (11-8pm GMT) |
Quarter-finals, semi-finals and final |
Due to the change of format, which involves clubs going head-to-head in two matches on Xbox and PlayStation, with the aggregate score deciding the winner, there are some really intriguing matchups this year.
