BOV ePremier League Offline Qualifier 2023 Preview...

Four Online Qualifiers, over a hundred competitors, and an exciting showing at Playcon have all boiled down to the next competition stage - the Offline Qualifier. Accordingly, this stage of the 2022-23 BOV ePremier League season is an intense chokepoint for the competition, where only the fittest will survive and earn their place in the Main Event. Read on as we preview this highly anticipated event in the following featured article!

BOV ePremier League Offline Qualifier - A Mixture of Competitors

So, how did we get here? Specifically, there have been three avenues for competitors to earn their spot at the upcoming Offline Qualifier.

Online Qualifier Seeds - Can They Handle the Heat?

Firstly, for those who've been tuning in over the past weeks, the Online Qualifiers have offered anybody on the island with an EA SPORTS account to fight through an open-format gauntlet and earn a seed. From these four Online Qualifiers, a healthy helping of rookies and some familiar faces have earned their spot - find all 20 of them listed below:

Online Qualifiers (20)

Bonell
Isa20902
juventinato253
Haller10
Kursten
Vli
Peqqii
KieranmaltaWHU
Menacing_MT
Punisher
Mangani
Johnny_lonut
Jilligones
EM91
EliteKiller_097
Dunstan12
Picina11
Muwx_19
UnknownMT
JustCantLose

Yet, if there's one thing most competitive FIFA players can agree on, it's that online competition is a world of difference compared to offline events. Indeed, making eye contact with your opponent, hearing them scream, feeling the pressure of performing on a fully-featured broadcast with the entire nation watching every move - well, there's nowhere to hide.

Past Season Competitors - Can They Still Hang?

Especially since some of these rookies will be competing against some proven talents. Yes, the second means of qualification for this event is a whole lot simpler. From last season, the players who placed 3-12th from the Main Event will be returning to try and prove that they deserve to be in the top Maltese FIFA competition on the island. Here's a reminder of who last year's competitors are:

BOV ePremier League 2021/22 - 3-12th (10)

Duane "DuaneMercieca" Mercieca
Matthias "Tubbi" Farrugia
Kursten "KurstenFIFA" Sciberras
Matteo "Vella_999" Vella
Miguel "Migi" Grima
Kyle "Barzak" Calleja
Ryan "Klawka" Cauchi
Glenn “GCAMBEAMZ-“ Camilleri
Owen “Owen Galea” Galea
Sirens FC - Salvatore "Shortyy" Assennato

Then again, a lot has changed since then, such as a brand new game with its own quirks and mechanics.

Playcon Warriors - Two Seasoned Competitors

Thirdly, thanks to an offline event hosted at Playcon 2022, two spots were up for grabs for whichever players managed to get the best placement. Battling through quite the competition, here are the two seeds making the cut:

Playcon 2022

Isaac "IsaacKyleGrima" Grima
Michael "Mizu" Micallef

We've just listed quite a bit of talent - only the top 11 will advance to the Main Competition Group Stage, and here's how!

BOV ePremier League Offline Qualifier - Explaining the Format

To begin with, here are some details to bear in mind for the parameters of the event:

Dates: 28-29th January
Venue: Centenary Stadium Ta' Qali
Schedule: 28th January (10AM to 7PM), 29th January (9AM to 3PM)

With regards to the format, all 32 competitors will have to fight through a six-round Swiss Format tournament.

For those unaware, the Swiss Format is an effective way for a large group of competitors to compete without too many matches required with a fixed number of rounds of competition without any eliminations. In each round a player is seeded with another player with the number of wins depending on their previous match performance. Notably, nobody plays the same opponent at each stage more than once.

As you can imagine, the more a competitor wins, the better competition they'll face and have the chance to climb even higher. The overall winner is the competitor with the highest aggregate points earned in all rounds.

However, in the context of this event, the main goal is to arrive in the Top 11. Once in the Top 11, players will earn their spot in the Main Event and will have the opportunity to represent an official Malta BOV Premier League club.

Be sure to stay tuned for more news of the ongoing BOV ePremier League season - we'll be sure to recap the action for you!