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The Lower League eCup is an American competitive gaming competition designed for supporters, players, and clubs from the third division and below of the United States Soccer Pyramid. [1]. Currently, there are representatives from over 120 soccer clubs participating in the inaugural edition of the competition, coming from over 20 different leagues [2]. Matches are played on the popular video game FIFA by EA Sports. The tournament is held on three consoles, PS4, Xbox One, and PC, with champions being crowned for each division.
The inaugural edition of the Lower League eCup was divided into two stages. A group stage scheduled for approximately 4-5 weeks, followed by a knockout stage. Players play one match per week during the group stage [3]. There were 78 clubs who participated on PS4, 67 clubs on Xbox One, and only 8 on PC. The top 48 teams in each division (and top 4 for PC), advance to a knockout stage [4]. It has been confirmed that there will be future editions of the eCup, as of April 25th, 2020, the cup hasn't announced further details.
Since none of the participating clubs in the tournament are featured in the FIFA video game series, American clubs choose an international club to play as. In the spirit of the “lower league” aspect of the cup, clubs are only allowed to use clubs that play below the first level of their respective soccer pyramids [5]. This means players can't use clubs from leagues such as the Premier League, Bundesliga, Major League Soccer, and any other first division leagues.
The tournament was announced via Twitter on March 16th, 2020 [6]. The tournament was founded by Joe Meyer, a high school senior intent on pursuing a university degree in Sports Management[7]. Not much is known about the background of the cup's founder. Originally, the tournament was created in response a demand for live sports due to the 2019-20 COVID-19 Pandemic, which shut down sports leagues across the world [8]. This shutdown included leagues such as the National Premier Soccer League, who had to cancel the entire 2020 Season, a league which many of the clubs in the eCup are members of [9].
The Breakers AFC were the first club to join the tournament followed by Kingston Stockade FC, Hartford City FC, and over 100 more clubs in the following weeks [10]. On March 18th, they formally released an official Lower League eCup logo via Twitter [11]. The logo was designed by the Triangle Soccer Podcast, a small podcast devoted to covering non-league football in the United States.
The first ever match in the Lower League eCup was played on April 1st, 2020, as Atlantic City FC defeated FC Buffalo, 4-3 in a group stage match. The 2020 eCup is scheduled to conclude with the finals for all three brackets on Monday, May 25th, 2020 [12].
Meyer has stated that "he thought that this would be a good way for lower league soccer to come together and help pass the time until the leagues can resume" [13]. Although it launched with no founding clubs, the eCup quickly grew to 120 clubs from dozens of leagues in a matter of less than two weeks. The tournament as been hailed as a "great reprieve from the chaos of the outside world for a little while, and a great way to keep watching the clubs we know and love" [14].
Although no plans have been formally announced as of late April 2020, Meyer appeared to confirm that it would return for future editions with plans being drawn up for a tournament in the winter months [15].
