Before a ball is kicked in the 2019 MLS regular season, the competitive year gets underway with eMLS League Series One presented by PlayStation, taking place Tuesday (Jan. 22) at the Esports Arena in Santa Ana, Calif.
Twenty-two MLS teams will be represented by the best professional FIFA gamers across North America, including the Chicago Fire Soccer Club’s newest eMLS competitor, Enrique Espinoza -- known by his gamer tag, BITW18 II.
This will be Espinoza’s first eMLS event since joining the Fire’s eSports roster earlier this year.
Tuesday's competition is divided into two parts: the regular season and eMLS League Series One playoffs. In regular-season competition, players will be divided into the Eastern and Western Conference and feature in 11 regular-season matches against each team in their conference from 1 PM to 6 PM CT. Just like on the physical pitch, players will earn three points for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss in the regular season.
From there, the top-4 finishers from each conference will advance to the eMLS League Series One playoffs, which will stream live on Twitch beginning at 8:30 PM CT.
Below is Espinoza's regular-season schedule -- be sure to follow @ChicagoFire and @eMLS on Twitter throughout the day for complete results from Santa Ana.
Time (CT) |
Opponent (Gamer tag) |
Club |
Result |
|---|---|---|---|
1 p.m. |
PhilB94 |
Toronto FC |
L, 1-2 |
1:20 p.m. |
RatedHugo |
Atlanta United |
L, 1-3 |
1:40 p.m. |
FCC Fiddle |
FC Cincinnati |
L, 2-6 |
2 p.m. |
CrewSC Nenad |
Columbus Crew SC |
W, 4-3 |
2:20 p.m. |
Renatogz05 |
D.C. United |
L, 1-0 |
2:40 p.m. |
LyesMTL |
Montreal Impact |
D, 2-2 |
4 p.m. |
JKO1707 |
New England Revolution |
L, 3-1 |
4:20 p.m. |
NYC_CHRIS |
New York City FC |
L, 4-2 |
4:40 p.m. |
Mike LaBelle |
New York Red Bulls |
W, 3-2 |
5 p.m. |
FIFA Abe |
Orlando City SC |
D, 3-3 |
5:20 p.m. |
doolsta |
Philadelphia Union |
L, 7-0 |
The eMLS League Series events – which will feature the full roster of eMLS players – will help determine the seeding for eMLS Cup presented by PlayStation in March. In turn, eMLS Cup participants will earn points for the EA SPORTS Global Series Playoffs, which give gamers a chance to qualify for the 2019 FIFA eWorld Cup.
