ESPN FC to Televise ESPN FC Champions Cup Live Final Wednesday, February 5

Online global gaming tournament provided by Virgin Gaming concludes in final showdown between UK’s Nicholas Joyce and Spain’s Victor Muñoz on Xbox® 360

ESPN FC Champions Cup – ESPN’s major online global gaming tournament in collaboration with EA SPORTS™ and Virgin Gaming across the US, Canada, UK, Germany, Spain, France, Brazil and Latin America – will conclude Wednesday, February 5 in a final showdown between the two overall winners, Nicholas Joyce from the UK and Victor Muñoz from Spain. Joyce and Muñoz beat out more than 6,400 participants that played over 100,000 games in an intense four-week tournament hosted by Virgin Gaming.

Prizing for the ESPN FC Champions Cup – awarded through Virgin Gaming – includes an all-expense paid trip to ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn. for the televised final live on ESPN FC at 5:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2 and a behind-the-scenes tour of the studios. The winner will receive a $2,500 USD grand prize.

The free-to-enter tournament for premium and non-premium users hosted a 16-person bracketed semifinal round on January 24-25 in a three round, single elimination game online leading up to the champion of each console. Weekly updates were featured on ESPN FCthroughout the tournament. Additionally, fans were able to follow the tournament leaderboards though social media pages from ESPN FC, EA SPORTS and Virgin Gaming.

About ESPN FC:

ESPN FC is ESPN’s multi-language, multi-country and multiplatform soccer brand. In its first year, ESPNFC.com grew to be the no. 1 soccer-specific site in the U.S., consistently leading the way in terms of audience. The site also features influential voices and quality coverage from renowned international soccer journalists Gabriele Marcotti, Roger Bennett, Iain Macintosh, James Horncastle, Michael Cox, Jeff Carlisle, Fernando Duarte, Tim Vickery and others. The Sunday edition (12 midnight ET) of ESPN FC on TV is a one-hour program – wrapping up the best highlights, news, reactions and opinions, from the weekend’s soccer action while looking ahead to what the results mean to the teams and their respective leagues. Monday through Friday (5:30 p.m., ESPN2), the program airs for 30-minute editions each day, highlighting the biggest news and issue of the day in soccer.

About EA SPORTS:

EA SPORTS is one of the leading sports entertainment brands in the world, with top-selling videogame franchises, award-winning interactive technology, fan programs and cross-platform digital experiences. EA SPORTS creates connected experiences that ignite the emotion of sports through industry-leading sports videogames, including Madden NFL football, EA SPORTS FIFA, NHL® hockey, NBA LIVE basketball, NCAA® Football, PGA TOUR® golf, SSX™ and EA SPORTS UFC. For more information about EA SPORTS, including news, video, blogs, forums and game apps, please visit www.easports.com.

About Virgin Gaming:

Introduced in June 2010, Virgin Gaming is the premier destination for competitive console gamers to meet, challenge and play in head-to-head matches and tournaments for cash and prizes. With an array of proprietary features, including a Fair Play Guarantee™ (with automatic game results validation), Virgin Gaming allows gamers of all skill levels from around the world to safely and easily compete online against friends and other members in some of their favorite multiplayer games. A leading-edge convergence of competitive online gaming and video games, the service offers robust community features with member pages, community reputation and skill ratings, a variety of exciting tournament formats and more. For additional information on the company or the all-new Virgin Gaming Premium service, visit http://www.virgingaming.com/ and follow us on Twitter @VirginGaming, Instagram Virgin_Gaming or like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/VirginGaming.