It's been an exciting year of competitive FIFA with more tournaments than ever before and a new ranking season that has allowed fans to track the world's best throughout the year.
The FIFA 19 season is coming to a close with the FIFA eWorld Cup just a couple of months away. Before that, though, are the FIFA Global Series Play-offs of which the Xbox players will compete first in the hope of rising up the rankings to qualify for the biggest tournament of the year.
The top 60 Xbox players from the FIFA Global Series, as well as four invited FIFA Online 4 (Southeast Asia's version of the game), will compete in the tournament between July 5-7 with the winner taking home 1,800 FIFA Global Series points. The top 16 Xbox players with the most accumulated points throughout the season will then proceed to the FIFA eWorld Cup.
Anyone who has seen any competitive FIFA this year will likely know that Donovan 'F2Tekkz' Hunt and Mossad 'MSDossary' Aldossary will be hot favourites at the tournament but with the world's best players in attendance, there is plenty of room for upsets.
Below, Goal highlights five other players who have the potential to make waves at the play-offs in Hamburg...
FaZe Tass
One of the few FIFA veterans, FaZe Clan's Tassal 'Tass' Rushan has been competing for years and really made a name for himself during his time with Hashtag United. Now with FaZe Clan, Tass has been in inspired form in the latter part of the season.
The Englishman was suspended for two weeks for using a homophobic slur in a YouTube video which he has apologised for. The suspension resulted in him missing two important qualifers. Since returning Tass has consistently performed well at tournaments and currently sits 13th in the FIFA Global Series Rankings.
Now he'll be aiming to put in a show-stopping performance at the Play-offs and eWorld Cup.
Dr Night Watch
Ivan 'Dr Night Watch' Churov isn't one of the biggest names on the scene but that could change quite soon. The Bulgarian has quietly climbed up the rankings and most notably eliminated F2Tekkz in the eChampions League qualifiers.
Dr Night Watch then performed just as admirably at the eChampions League finals, reaching the grand final before falling to New York City FC's Chris 'NYCFC Chris' Holly.
Since he started receiving coaching from suspended player Kylem ' Lyricz ' Edwards , who represented Tottenham in the ePremier League, Dr Night Watch's play has gone up another level. It's also worth noting that his impressive eChampions League performances were on PlayStation while he is primarily an Xbox player.
With prowess on both consoles, Night Watch could be a dangerous opponent if he makes it to the grand finals.
Gorilla
A legend in the esports scene, Spencer 'Gorilla' Ealing became the best known FIFA player in the world when he lifted the FIFA Interactive World Cup in 2017 and earned himself a windfall of $200,000, before later being crowned the UK's esports Player of the Year.
Yet FIFA 19 has proved to be a fall from grace for Gorilla who has failed to have a big impact at any tournaments and has been a free agent for the entirety of this year.
However, the Englishman has consistently qualified for tournaments which was enough to put him 26th in the Xbox FIFA Global Series Rankings. Gorilla will be going into the play-offs representing Stark Esports, having recently joined the German-based agency after nearly a whole season as a free agent.
Gorilla has shown on many occasions that he will perform when it matters and nothing phases him. If he can hit his stride, the best of the best will struggle to stop him.
EA Sports
Megabit
Currently one of the best in the world, Michael 'Megabit' Bittner is currently ranked fourth on Xbox after a phenomenal season. The German has reached multiple console finals and recently defeated Werder Bremen team-mate Mohammed 'Mo Auba' Harkous in the Virtual Bundesliga final.
That win will be a huge momentum builder for the German who could go a step further at the Play-offs. A good draw and a couple of good games and he could be a world champion.
DullenMike
We've seen how successful young players can be in FIFA when they burst onto the scene - just look at Tekkz, who won his first ever professional tournament as a 16-year-old and has now won many, many more this year.
And 2019 has seen the breakthrough of SK Gaming's Dylan 'DullenMike' Neuhausen, who broke Tekkz's record of being the youngest FIFA champion ever when he won the FUT Champions Cup in January.
The 16-year-old took home $50,000 for that win and will surely have much more to come. Currently ranked ninth on Xbox, if the youngster can handle the pressure we can see him going all the way.
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