There will be some major changes in the competitive FIFA 21 scene for South African players, after EA SPORTS outlined the new Global Series season.
One of the biggest changes sees South Africa moved into a new region, and will now form part of West Asia for the FIFA 21 Global Series.
Competitors in FIFA from South Africa would usually fall under the Middle East Africa region, but that has now been changed. Instead, one region will be known as West Asia South Africa, while Egypt, Israel and Turkey will be moved into the European circuit.
Rushan Shekar, League Operations Manager for FIFA Competitive Gaming Entertainment, explained the changes for this year in the patch notes on the official EA website.
"We're very excited to welcome Bolivia, Costa Rica, and India to the EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Global Series," he wrote.
"With the addition of India, we're changing the name of the Middle East Africa region to West Asia South Africa, which India will join, and moving a few of the countries that have traditionally played in that region elsewhere.
"South Africa will have its own Qualifiers due to its relative distance, but join West Asia for the Regional Playoffs. The following countries that were a part the Middle East Africa region will join the Europe region rather than the West Asia region: Egypt, Israel, Turkey."
South Africa will also benefit from a more stable game environment, with a FIFA Game Data Centre for online tournaments being based in Johannesburg.
Another interesting note was that the next-generation of consoles would not be used in the FIFA 21 Global series, while in the South African region only the PS4 will be used, not the Xbox.
Explaining this, Shekar added, "The FIFA 21 Global Series will not move to PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X as this is a transition year and the new consoles will not be released until after the season has started.
"With the move to separated regional play, the following regions will have competition exclusively on PlayStation 4: Oceania, East Asia, West Asia South Africa.
"With only 15-40 FUT Champions Verified players on Xbox One in each of these regions, we are consolidating competition into the PlayStation 4 which has historically had a larger number of FUT Champions Verified Players. Europe, North America, and South America will continue to have tournaments on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles."
