Mamelodi Sundowns FIFA 23 Championship with R200,000 prize pool

Mamelodi Sundowns F.C., the reigning domestic champions, was included in FIFA 23, in case you didn’t know. To celebrate, South African tournament organizer Mettlestate, and Mamelodi Sundowns have announced the Mamelodi Sundowns FIFA 23 Championship for local gamers to compete in, with a whopping R200,000 prize pool. Here’s what you need to know.

Mamelodi Sundowns FIFA 23 Championship details

The Mamelodi Sundowns FIFA 23 Championship finals will see the top FIFA 23 players in South Africa compete at rAge 2022 at the Gallagher Convention Centre from 9 to 11 December for their share of the R200,000 prize pool. These contestants will be flown to rAge 2022.

The live finals will take place at the Mamelodi Sundowns stand at the rAge 2022. To become one of the eight players, you will need to qualify. So how do you qualify? Well, there will be four live qualifiers taking place at malls across South Africa, with the winner of each qualifying for the Mamelodi Sundowns FIFA 23 Championship. Then, four players from online qualifiers will round out the top eight.

Check out the qualifiers schedule below, alongside important information such as location.

Online Qualifiers:

• Registrations open: 15 November
• Online qualifiers take place: 26 November
• Finals: 9-11 December at rAge

Qualifier 1:

• V & A Waterfront, Cape Town – 19 November
• Top player goes to grand finals at rAge

Qualifier 2:

• Menlyn Mall, Pretoria – 19 November
• Top player goes to grand finals at rAge

Qualifier 3:

• Gate Way Mall, Durban – 3 December
• Top player goes to grand finals at rAge.

Qualifier 4:

• Mall of Africa, Johannesburg – 3rd December
• Top player goes to grand finals at rAge

These qualifiers are free to enter. You can head on over to Mettlestate’s dedicated page for the online qualifier to throw your hat into the ring right now. Check out some quotes via a Press Release we’ve received regarding the Mamelodi Sundowns FIFA 23 Championship below.

The Chairman of Mamelodi Sundowns, Tlhopie Motsepe, explains:

“Many of the people in our football club are fans of the FIFA series and are aware of the passion that South African gamers have towards the video game”, says Motsepe. “That is one of the reasons that the moment Mamelodi Sundowns was announced as the latest African team to be included in FIFA 23, we knew that we had to give our supporters and fans of the game a chance to celebrate with us.”

We hope this kickstarts local excitement around football while giving gamers and lovers of FIFA series the chance to play in a competition that was made especially for them. This is our first project in the esports industry and we are excited to see where this leads us. I’d like to thank our staff members, our partners and our board for helping us make this possible.”

Mettlestate’s Managing Director, Barry Louzada, states:

“Traditional sports and esports overlap in more ways than most people realise. FIFA23 is the perfect example of this. We are ecstatic to see Mamelodi Sundowns football club being represented in this popular international title. But the club is going above and beyond – they are actively supporting and encouraging esports. This kind of tournament is exactly what the FIFA scene in South Africa needs: dedication and opportunity.”

Good luck to everyone competing in the Mamelodi Sundowns FIFA 23 Championship qualifiers. It will, without a doubt, be an awesome final to watch at rAge 2022, and we can’t wait to see who comes out on top.

Header image via Mettlestate/Mamelodi Sundowns.