FC Pro Open Ladder Rules

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FC Pro Official Rules

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1. OVERVIEW

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW.

The EA SPORTS FC Pro 25 (“Competition”) is sponsored by Electronic Arts Inc. (“EA”), 209 Redwood Shores Parkway, Redwood City, CA 94065 and is governed by these Official Rules (“Official Rules”).

The Competition is a series of video game competitions (each, an “Event”) conducted using EA SPORTS FC™ 25 (“Game”) for the PlayStation 5 console (“Supported Platform”).

The following is the current list of Events in this year’s Competition:

• EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Ladder

• EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Regional Qualifiers

• EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Global Qualifier

• EA SPORTS FC Pro Open

• EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Cups (each, an “Open Cup”)

• EA SPORTS FC Pro Leagues

• EA SPORTS FC Pro Play Ins

• EA SPORTS FC Pro World Championship

EA SPORTS FC Pro Leagues (or “Partner League Events”) are events run by EA’s league partners, including, but not limited to, UEFA, CONMEBOL, Premier League, Bundesliga, LA LIGA EA FC, Ligue1, SerieA, MLS, and Eredivisie (collectively, “Partner Leagues”).

Rules specific to each Event (“Event Rules”), including additional registration requirements, deadlines, gameplay rules, prizes, and other details related to individual Events, will be posted as part of the registration process for each individual Event. Event Rules are a continuation of these Official Rules.

Each event involves gameplay that may be broadcast over the internet or other media and/or require in-person participation at a specific place and time at a live venue (each, a “Live Event”).

All federal, state, provincial, and local laws and regulations apply.

Any third party that operates another video game competition incorporating the Game is the sponsor of such competition and will determine the applicable terms and conditions for participation in those events. Non-EA SPORTS FC Pro 25 competitions are governed by separate terms and conditions for participation.

2. ELIGIBILITY AND REGISTRATION

2.1. Registration Process and Deadlines

2.1.1. Registration Process

To register to be considered for eligibility for the Competition, Competitors are required to register their valid EA Account at https://events.ea.com/fc-pro/ (“Registration Site”), fill out the required fields, and accept the Official Rules and the Event Rules for Events that they wish to compete in (“Event Rules”).

In addition, Competitors are required to register for each Event in the Competition separately by completing the following steps on https://battlefy.com/fc-pro/ (“Tournament Site”) by the registration dates noted in Section 2.1.2:

• Sign into Battlefy account;

• Link Battlefy account with EA Account;

• Fill out required fields; and

• Read and accept the Official Rules, including any Event Rules.

Certain Events may have additional registration requirements in order to participate; see the Event Rules and Tournament Site for details.

2.1.2. Registration Deadlines

• EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Ladder: prior to participating in each day’s competition

• EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Regional Qualifiers: prior to Event start

• EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Cups: prior to participating in each day’s competition

Exact times for the registration deadlines detailed above will be posted on the Tournament Site prior to the Event. Registration deadlines for Partner League Events will be detailed on the registration pages for those Events.

Invited Competitors are subject to the registration deadlines noted in their invitations. Failure to complete registration as described in Section 2.1.1. by the noted dates will result in the invitation being rescinded.

2.2. Player Eligibility and Requirements

Each player is required to meet the following eligibility requirements to be considered a “Competitor”:

• Be the minimum age required to have a full (not underage) EA account in their territory of residence, and meet the following minimum age requirements as of the time of registration:

• From Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Korea - at least eighteen (18) years old;

• From Japan - at least seventeen (17) years old;

• All other territories: at least sixteen (16) years old.

• Register their valid EA Account for eligibility and accept the Official Rules and Event Rules.

• For players under the age of majority in their country/territory of residence, a parent or legal guardian must review and consent to these Official Rules and any Event Rules on their behalf, and accompany them to any in-person Live Events.

• Be a legal resident of one of the countries/regions listed in Appendix A.

• Have a valid EA account (https://www.ea.com/register).

• Own or have access to the Game on a Supported Platform and have connected it to their valid EA Account.

• Have a valid PlayStation Network ID (“PSN ID”) connected to their valid EA Account.

• Agree to EA’s User Agreement (https://terms.ea.com, “User Agreement”) and acknowledge that EA’s Privacy and Cookie Policy (https://privacy.ea.com, “Privacy and Cookie Policy”) applies.

• Enable Two Factor Authentication on their EA Account.

• Have a valid Battlefy account (battlefy.com).

• Have a valid Discord account (discord.com).

• For EA SPORTS FC Pro Open: Attain a minimum level in-Game of Division 3 by 7 October, 2024 within the Ultimate Team Rivals mode.

If a player is found to be ineligible after the start time of an Event, the ineligible player will be removed from the Event and may forfeit all future matches in the Event.

2.3. Event Rules

Refer to the following documents to see registration requirements, deadlines, gameplay rules, prizes, and other details related to individual Events: Documents will be added as Appendices as new Competition Events are announced.

2.4. Acceptance of Official Rules; Changes to the Competition and Official Rules

Competitors must accept the Official Rules and Event Rules on the Registration and Tournament Sites to be considered for participation in the Competition and specific Event. Invited Competitors must read and accept these Official Rules by signing and returning to EA by the date noted on their invite to be considered for participation in the Competition.

These Official Rules and all Event Rules may be updated by EA without notice as necessary, including without limitation, to add further clarity, correct errors, comply with changes in applicable law, or address matters that arise after their publication.

EA reserves the right to cancel, suspend and/or modify the Competition, or any part of it, if any fraud, technical failures, act of God, fire, flood, storm, war, public disaster, or other calamity, strike or labour difficulties, public health emergency, cessation of air travel to a Live Event, or any governmental or regulatory determination or action, regulation or order, or any other cause beyond EA’s reasonable control whether similar or dissimilar to those enumerated in this Section 2.4, or any other factor impairs the integrity or proper operation of the Competition, including the safety of Competitors or fairness of the Competition, as determined by EA in its sole discretion.

EA reserves the right to disqualify any Competitor at any time for any reason, including without limitation, for tampering with the operation of the Competition, or acting in violation of these Official Rules. Any attempt by any person to deliberately undermine the legitimate operation of the Competition may be a violation of criminal and civil law, and EA reserves the right to seek damages and other remedies (including attorneys’ fees) from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law.

By participating in the Competition, Competitors agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of EA and Event Officials (as defined in Appendix B1).

2.5. Proof of Residency

Competitors may be required to provide proof of residency in an eligible country/territory to compete in the Competition. The sufficiency of any such proof or documentation will be determined by EA (or its agent) in its sole discretion. The list of eligible countries/regions can be found in Appendix A.

Competitors who participate in Live Events will be required to sign and return a Declaration of Eligibility, and must certify their country/territory of permanent residence by providing a government-issued identification, such as a driver’s licence, identification card, or work visa with a photo, name and physical address in an eligible country/territory.

A Competitor may be a resident of a single Region (as defined in Section 4.1) at any point in time, regardless of whether that Competitor has lawful resident status in multiple Regions. Any Competitor who relocates to a new Region may not be considered a resident of the new Region until the season has concluded. A Competitor must be physically located in the Region that they are a resident of when competing in online Events.

Competitors under the age of majority in their country/territory of residence may provide a school identification card if government-issued identification is not available and their parent or legal guardian must also provide government-issued identification.

Competitors may also be required to produce a recent invoice from a utility company (energy, telephone, or cable) with a name and physical address in an eligible country/territory.

2.6. EA Account Check

Upon registration, the vetting procedure will take place at EA’s sole discretion prior to being eligible to play to ensure that Competitors are not breaking the Code of Conduct and not violating EA’s User Agreement.

Any Competitors that are deemed as not eligible to play due to this vetting procedure will be notified via email.

2.7. Employees and Conflicts of Interest

Employees of EA and its respective affiliates, subsidiaries, representatives, advertising, promotion, and publicity agencies, vendors, Battlefy, Inc., Sony Interactive Entertainment, former employees of EA who participated in the development of the Game, and the immediate family members and persons living in the same household of such employees are not eligible to participate in the Competition.

2.8. Registration Data and Leaderboard

As part of the registration process, Competitors will be asked to provide information such as a Competition username, first and last names, country/territory (and state, if applicable) of residence, and optional information, such as X (formerly, Twitter) and Discord usernames. This information may be used in any leaderboard data created as part of the Competition. The leaderboard will be published on Tournament Site or https://fcpro.com/ and updated with point totals on a regular basis, as determined by EA in its sole discretion.

Competitor demographics provided during registration or otherwise maintained by EA, along with gameplay statistics, may also be publicly announced as part of broadcast commentary during events. For more information about how we may process your personal information, please see Section 10.1 of the Official Rules.

3. COACHES AND ORGANISATIONS

3.1. Coaches

A Coach is a non-playing individual who advises a Competitor in the Competition.

A Competitor may have one Coach designated as their Main Coach who is authorised to communicate with them during a game.

Coaches are required to complete the registration process described in Section 2.1 to be eligible to participate. Coaches are not considered Competitors in the Competition and therefore are not eligible to participate in prizing.

If a Competitor has a coach designated as the Main Coach, then that Main Coach may be present for every game in which the Competitor participates. For Live Events, the Competitor’s designated Main Coach may be on site throughout each game. For online tournaments, the Competitor’s designated Main Coach may be connected to a voice communication system.

Coaches may not be switched out during the same Event. Should a Competitor wish to change Coaches between Events, the new Coach is required to complete the registration process described in Section 2.1 prior to the Event.

A Competitor’s designated Main Coach is the only person permitted to be in the match area with the Competitor during the Match.

A Competitor can designate an interim Main Coach in an emergency. Whether or not an event qualifies as an emergency is determined at the sole discretion of EA. The interim Main Coach can be a manager of the same Competitor; under no circumstances can an interim Main Coach be a current Coach of another Competitor.

3.2. Organisations

Competitors may represent an organisation, club or team in the Competition. The organisation, club or team are not considered Competitors in the Competition and therefore are not eligible to participate in prizing. Any disbursement of prizing to an entity other than the Competitor who earned the prize will require the Competitor’s written authorization.

Each Competitor or manager is required to provide the following by emailing fcleagueops@ea.com:

• Name of the organisation, club or team the Competitor will be representing and authorisation for use;

• Organisation logo and authorisation for use (format must be vector);

• Contact information for the officer or representative of the organisation, club or team;

• Team Name;

• Competitor’s real name and Display Name (as defined in Appendix B8);

• Photo of Competitor and authorisation for use.

The deadline to submit this information for each Event will be detailed in the Event Rules. EA will inform Competitors of any other applicable deadlines and required information. This information may be incorporated into the broadcast and web coverage of the Event.

Competitors who qualified to the EA SPORTS FC Pro Play Ins or EA SPORTS FC Pro World Championship via a Partner League Event are required to represent the same club they represented during the Partner League Event.

4. COMPETITION STRUCTURE

4.1. Regional Play

The EA SPORTS FC Open Global Qualifier, EA SPORTS FC Pro Open, EA SPORTS FC Pro Play Ins and EA SPORTS FC Pro World Championship will include all regions set out in Appendix A (“Regions,” or each, a “Region”). Partner League Events will include Regions as set forth in those Event Rules. The EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Ladder, EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Cups, and EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Regional Qualifiers will be divided by the following Regions:

• Africa

• Asia North

• Asia South

• Europe East

• Europe West

• LATAM North

• LATAM South

• Middle East

• North America

• Oceania

See Appendix B for the full list of countries/territories in each Region.

4.2. EA SPORTS FC Pro Open

4.2.1. EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Ladder

Competitors will compete in an online ladder tournament for their Region using the in-Game Ultimate Team FC Pro mode.

Competitors will begin the ladder unranked. All matches will be one (1) single game. The winner of the match is the Competitor with the higher score at the end. If the game is at a tied state, extra time will be used, followed by the penalty shootout, if needed, to find an outright winner of the match.

Ladders for all Regions will be open for seven (7) days, October 1 - 7, 2024.

Competitors will be able to search and play matches in a four-hour period per day, 7 days a week.

To be eligible for qualification, Competitors are required to play a minimum of 20 matches.

The top Competitors with the highest peak placement (i.e. highest placement achieved at any point during the tournament) on the ladder for their Region will qualify for the EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Regional Qualifiers as follows:

4.2.2. EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Regional Qualifiers

4.2.2.1. Overview

Online qualifiers for all Regions will take place on Saturday, 12 and Sunday, 13, October 2024.

The Regional Qualifiers will be played using the in-Game Ultimate Team mode in the 1v1 dedicated FC Pro mode. All matches will be one (1) single game. The winner of the match is the Competitor with the higher score at the end. If the game is at a tied state, extra time will be used, followed by the penalty shootout, if needed, to find an outright winner of the match.

4.2.2.2. Day 1 Swiss-system management

Competitors will begin the qualifier in a Swiss-system tournament, with the number of rounds to be determined after check-in is completed on the first day of the Event. Competitors will be seeded based on their finishing placement from the EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Ladder.

Each round will consist of a single match, and Competitors will be automatically eliminated from the tournament after three (3) losses. For the initial round, the top-seeded Competitor will play the worst seed, the second-best seed plays the 2nd worst seed and so on. All Competitors with two (2) or fewer losses at the end of the Swiss-system tournament will advance to Day 2 of the qualifiers.

4.2.2.3. Day 2 Double-elimination tournament

Competitors will be seeded based on their finishing placements from Day 1 of the tournament. Competitors will compete in a standard double-elimination tournament, with the top seeded Competitor playing the worst seed, the second best seed playing the 2nd worst seed and so on in the initial round. Winners from the initial round will move into the winners bracket and losers from the initial round will move into the losers bracket. The tournament will continue until the number of finalists as described in Section 4.2.2.4. have been determined.

4.2.2.4. Qualification to EA SPORTS FC Open Global Qualifier

The top Competitors with the highest finishing placement per Region will qualify for the EA SPORTS FC Open Global Qualifier as follows:

4.2.3. EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Global Qualifier

4.2.3.1. Overview

Competitors that finished 5th to 16th in the 2023-2024 EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Live Event will have received a direct invitation to the Global Qualifier. Fifty-two (52) Competitors will have qualified through the Regional Qualifiers.

The Global Qualifier will be played using the in-Game Ultimate Team game mode in the 1v1 dedicated FC Pro mode.

All matches will be one (1) single game. The winner of the match is the Competitor with the higher score at the end. If the game is at a tied state, extra time will be used, followed by the penalty shootout, if needed, to find an outright winner of the match.

The Event will run across two (2) days. Day one (1) will run as a Swiss-system tournament Group to find the top thirty two (32) Competitors. Day two (2) will be a Double Elimination bracket split into four (4) groups to find the top sixteen (16) Competitors who will qualify for the EA SPORTS FC Pro Open.

The Event will occur on November 1 to 3, 2024.

4.2.3.2. Day 1 Swiss-system tournament

All sixty four (64) Competitors will be randomly seeded into a single group in a Swiss-system tournament where each Competitor will play up to five (5) rounds, with each round consisting of a single match. Competitors will be automatically dropped after three (3) losses. The top thirty two (32) Competitors with the most number of wins will advance to Day 2 of the qualifier.

4.2.3.2.1. Tiebreakers

If Competitors are tied in their ranking at the end of the Swiss-system tournament, the tiebreaker will be resolved by the following methods, in descending order of priority:

• Median Bucholz (Strength of Schedule Score):

• A Competitor's Strength of Schedule Score is the sum of wins earned by the middle three (3) of their opponents while excluding their opponents with the most and least wins. The Competitor with the higher Strength of Schedule Score is considered a higher seed.

• Better goal difference in all Swiss matches.

• Most goals scored in all Swiss matches.

4.2.3.3. Day 2 Double Elimination Groups

Competitors will be seeded based on their rankings from Day 1 in a snaked format across four (4) groups. Competitors will compete in the four (4) groups of eight (8) Competitors in a Double Elimination bracket. Competitors will advance to the EA SPORTS FC Pro Open if they win two (2) matches, and they will be eliminated if they lose two (2) matches.

4.2.4. EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Cups

The FC Pro Open Cups will take place in November 2024, December 2024 and January 2025. The schedule of competitions is as follows:

Each Open Cup will consist of two (2) stages: (1) the EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Cups Ladder, a Regional online ladder tournament, followed by (2) the EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Cups Playoffs.

4.2.4.1. EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Cups Ladder

Competitors will begin the ladder unranked. All matches will be one (1) single game and use the in-Game Ultimate Team mode. The winner of the match is the Competitor with the higher score at the end. If the game is at a tied state, extra time will be used, followed by the penalty shootout, if needed, to find an outright winner of the match.

Competitors will be able to search and play matches in a four-hour period per day, 7 days a week.

Exact timing of the ladder open periods will be detailed in the Event Rules. To be eligible for qualification, Competitors are required to play a minimum of 20 games per week.

The top Competitors with the highest peak placement (i.e. highest placement achieved at any point during the tournament) on the ladder for their Region will qualify for the EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Cups Playoffs as follows:

4.2.4.2 EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Cups Playoffs

The FC Pro Open Cups Playoffs will be played using the in-Game Ultimate Team mode. All matches will be two (2) games. The winner of the match is the Competitor with the higher score at the end. If the game is at a tied state after the end of the second game, extra time will be used, followed by the penalty shootout, if needed, to find an outright winner of the match.

4.2.4.2.1 Day 1 Swiss-system tournament

Competitors will begin the qualifier in a Swiss-system tournament, with the number of rounds to be determined after check-in is completed on the first day of the Event. Competitors will be seeded based on their finishing placement from the ladder tournament.

Each round will consist of a single match, and Competitors will be automatically eliminated from the tournament after three (3) losses. For the initial round, the top seeded Competitor will play the worst seed, the second best seed plays the 2nd worst seed and so on. All Competitors with two (2) or fewer losses at the end of the Swiss-system tournament will advance to Day 2 of the qualifiers.

4.2.4.2.2. Day 2 - Single-elimination tournament

Competitors will be seeded based on their finishing placements from Day 1 of the tournament. Competitors will compete in a standard single-elimination tournament, with the top seeded Competitor playing the worst seed, the second best seed playing the 2nd worst seed and so on in the initial round. Winners from the initial round will move into the next round of the bracket and losers from the initial round will be eliminated from the tournament. The tournament will continue until a winner is crowned, with prizing detailed in Appendix C2.

4.2.4.3. EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Cups Circuit Points

Competitors will earn circuit points which will be accrued across all three (3) competitions. The breakdown is as follows:

4.2.4.3.1. Points Per Win (Swiss-system tournament Only)

Competitors will be awarded 15 points per win during the Swiss round, regardless of whether the Competitor qualifies to the elimination round.

4.2.4.3.2. Placement Points (Single-elimination tournament Only)

Competitors will be awarded points based on their finishing placement from the Single-elimination tournament as follows:

4.2.5. EA SPORTS FC Pro Open

4.2.5.1. Overview

The EA SPORTS FC Pro Open is a 1v1 in-person Live Event and will qualify eight (8) Competitors for the EA SPORTS FC Pro World Championship.

The top four (4) Competitors from the 2023-2024 EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Championship and the 2023-2024 EA SPORTS FC Pro World Championship will be directly invited to the EA SPORTS FC Pro Open. The remaining sixteen (16) Competitors will have qualified directly via the EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Global Qualifier.

Should a Competitor qualify for an invitation through multiple avenues, an additional Competitor will qualify through the Global Qualifier. This additional Competitor will be the Competitor with the next highest finishing placement from the Global Qualifier.

The Event will run for eight (8) weeks in the regular season. Split 1 of the season is from November 25 – December 16, 2024. Split 2 is from January 6 – 27, 2025. The EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Finals will take place over one (1) day, February 1, 2025.

Competitors will compete in the Ultimate Team (UT) mode in-Game in the 1v1 dedicated FC Pro mode. All matches will be one (1) single game. The winner of the match is the Competitor with the higher score at the end.

4.2.5.2. Group Stage

Twenty-four (24) Competitors will compete over eight (8) weeks in four (4) groups of six (6) Competitors. The four (4) directly invited Competitors will be randomly distributed into Groups A-D, with two (2) directly invited Competitors in each group. The other sixteen (16) Competitors will be randomised into Groups A-D via a group draw during the Global Qualifier.

Competitors within each group will play each other twice in a double round-robin format, once in Split 1 and once in Split 2. Each match will be a single game.

Each match will conclude in regulation time with no extra time or penalties to provide an outright winner.

Points will be awarded per match as follows:

• 3 Points per win

• 1 Point per draw

• 0 Points per loss

The three (3) Competitors with the highest points from each group, for a total twelve (12) Competitors, will qualify for the EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Finals.

One (1) Competitor with the highest points from each group will advance to the round-of-8, Competitors with the second and third highest points from each group will advance to the initial round of the Finals.

4.2.5.3. Tiebreakers

If Competitors are tied on points, the tiebreaker will be resolved by the following methods, in descending order of priority:

• Goal difference in all group matches

• Greater number of goals scored in all group matches

• Best head-to-head record (if only tied with one (1) other Competitor)

• Rematch between tied Competitors

A rematch will include extra time and penalties if Competitors are still tied.

4.2.5.4. EA SPORT FC Pro Open Finals

Twelve (12) Competitors will compete in a single elimination bracket.

The round of 16 bracket will be seeded as follows:

• Group A 2nd Place vs Group D 3rd Place

• Group B 2nd Place vs Group C 3rd Place

• Group C 2nd Place vs Group B 3rd Place

• Group D 2nd Place vs Group A 3rd Place

The round of 8 bracket will be seeded as follows:

• Winner of Group A 2nd Place/Group D 3rd Place vs. Group C 1st Place

• Winner of Group B 2nd Place/Group C 3rd Place vs. Group D 1st Place

• Winner of Group C 2nd Place/Group B 3rd Place vs. Group A 1st Place

• Winner of Group D 2nd Place/Group A 3rd Place vs. Group B 1st Place

Should a match end in a draw after regulation time, extra time and penalties will follow to find an outright winner of the match.

The eight (8) quarterfinalists will qualify for the EA SPORTS FC Pro World Championship.

4.3. Partner League Events

Information on Partner League Events will be available on the applicable league websites. Eligibility and details will vary from league to league. Please refer to the applicable league websites for more information. Non-registered Competitors can compete in Partner League Events, but only eligible registered Competitors will be allocated a place in the EA SPORTS FC Pro World Championship or Play Ins.

Competitors cannot compete in multiple domestic Partner League events. Competitors are required to be residents of the country/territory where the Partner League Event is played unless they have a signed contract with a team endemic to that league.

Competitors in these events will compete for a place in the EA SPORTS FC Pro World Championship or the EA SPORTS FC Pro Play Ins. The number of seats awarded from each Partner League Event will be detailed in the Event Rules.

A Competitor can qualify for the EA SPORTS FC Pro World Championship through one qualification method only. If a Competitor who has already qualified finishes in a subsequent Event with a placement that awards qualification to the EA SPORTS FC Pro World Championship, that qualification will be awarded to another Competitor according to the Event Rules.

4.4. EA SPORTS FC Pro Play Ins

The Play-ins is an in-person Live Event. Competitors will qualify for the Play Ins via Partner League Events and Regional Cups.

The top four (4) Competitors will qualify for the EA SPORTS FC Pro World Championship.

Details on the Play Ins competition structure will be included in the Event Rules.

4.5. EA SPORTS FC Pro World Championship 4.5.1. Overview

The EA SPORTS FC Pro World Championship is the pinnacle event in the Competition.

The Competition will be held in the Ultimate Team mode in-Game the 1v1 dedicated FC Pro mode.

All matches will be one (1) single game. The winner of the game is the Competitor with the higher score at the end. If the game is at a tied state, extra time will be used, followed by the penalty shootout if needed to find an outright winner of the match.

4.5.2. Group Stage

The thirty two (32) Competitors will be divided into eight (8) groups (Groups A-H) of four (4) Competitors based on a previous group draw.

Each group will compete in a double elimination group format where Competitors must win two (2) matches in order to progress to the Knockout Stage. Competitors with two (2) losses are eliminated from the tournament.

4.5.3. Knockout Stage

The sixteen (16) Competitors that qualified for the Knockout Stage will compete in a single elimination bracket which will be seeded as below:

• 1st Group A vs 2nd Group H

• 1st Group B vs 2nd Group G

• 1st Group C vs 2nd Group F

• 1st Group D vs 2nd Group E

• 2nd Group A vs 1st Group H

• 2nd Group B vs 1st Group G

• 2nd Group C vs 1st Group F

• 2nd Group D vs 1st Group E

5. PLATFORMS & EQUIPMENT

5.1. Platforms

Competitors may register and compete in the Competition on a Supported Platform using a single PSN ID on the PlayStation 5. All Live Events will be available on the PlayStation 5 platform.

5.2. Equipment and Accessories Provided On-site

Event Officials may provide the following equipment at Live Events to facilitate the tournament:

• Tables and chairs

• Access-restricted player lounge or equivalent practice facility

• Consoles

• TV monitors

• Controllers

• Game accounts

• Practice area

5.3. Competitor-Owned Equipment

Competitors are encouraged to bring their own controllers to be used during the Competition. All controllers must first be reviewed and approved by Event Officials prior to use during an Event.

Competitors may not have possession of any personal communication devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets, or other items capable of mobile communications, etc.) while they are actively engaged in a match, except for the purposes of listening to music on the device. Event Officials will provide a storage area for all personal items.

6. ADDITIONAL COMPETITOR REQUIREMENTS FOR LIVE EVENTS

Competitors competing in a Live Event are required to adhere to the following: Be available to the media during each Live Event.

• Attend Media Day prior to each Live Event

• Competitors will be informed of any pre-match obligations, including, but not limited to, media appearances, interviews, or further discussion of any match matters.

• Competitors are required to join the relevant Discord server for certain tournaments.

• Be available for an interview with the Competition broadcast crew for at least thirty (30) minutes following the end of each Live Event day.

• Winners from a Live Event may also be required to participate in a media session for up to one (1) hour following the end of the competition.

• Competitors will be expected to be ready to begin match play at the scheduled times. If a hardware or software failure or other unexpected incident occurs in the game, both Competitors in the affected match are responsible for alerting an Event Official of the incident immediately.

7. PARTICIPATION IN LIVE EVENTS

7.1 Travel to Live Events

EA or third parties may provide travel accommodations at EA’s or such third party’s expense for some Competitors who qualify (or are invited) to compete in a Live Event. For Competitors with travel expenses paid by EA, the selection of transportation carriers, hotels, and/or related transfers, will be at EA's sole discretion. EA reserves the right to provide ground transportation instead of airfare based on a Competitor’s travel distance from a Live Event. If a Competitor requests special travel or accommodation plans, such as different travel dates, different carriers, or departure/arrival cities other than the designated city for the tournament, and if the cost of the special travel request exceeds that of the standard tournament travel plans, EA may require the Competitor to cover the difference in cost.

Receiving travel accommodations is contingent upon compliance with these Official Rules. In the event a Competitor is disqualified, or travel is forfeited for any reason, EA may award that Competitor’s transportation, accommodations, current placement in the Event, and/or the prize associated with Competitor’s current placement to an alternate Competitor, who may assume that Competitor’s place in the Competition.

Incidentals for travel, including, without limitation: telephone calls, facsimile charges, Internet charges, spa/beauty salon services, laundry, tours/excursions, gift shop purchases, hotel processing fees, airline service charges and any other expenses not mentioned in these Official Rules are the sole responsibility of the Competitor or parent/guardian, and the Competitor may be asked to account for any such incidental charges by providing the applicable hotel with a credit card. Hotel and airfare cannot be used separately. Travel and accommodations are subject to availability and certain restrictions. Any extra nights’ stay and any additional costs associated with an extended stay are the sole responsibility of the Competitor and his or her parent/guardian. Valid passport and/or other travel documentation may be required, which is the responsibility of each Competitor. Additional restrictions may apply.

7.2. Declaration of Eligibility and Request for Biographical Information

In order to participate in Live Events, receive travel accommodations to in-person Live Events, and/or receive equipment from EA to participate in online-only Live Events, Competitors must sign a Declaration of Eligibility and complete the Request for Biographic Information. Declaration of Eligibility will be sent to Competitors at the email addresses associated with the EA Accounts used to register for Events as described in Section 2 of these Official Rules. If a Competitor does not complete and return the Declaration of Eligibility and Request for Biographic Information within two (2) business days of attempted notification, fails to sign and/or return the Declaration of Eligibility within the required time period, refuses travel, is ineligible to accept travel, or is unavailable to travel during the required dates listed in Event Rules for the specific Event, the Competitor forfeits travel accommodations, as well as their place in the respective Event.

If a Competitor is a minor in his or her territory of residence, the Competitor’s parent or legal guardian will be required to sign all necessary documents to accept travel and must accompany the Competitor to the Live Event. In these instances, travel accommodations will include additional airfare for one (1) parent or legal guardian. Competitor and parent/legal guardian must travel together on the same itinerary and will share hotel accommodations.

7.3. Background Checks

In order to participate in a Live Event, potential prize winners may first be required to submit to a background check and provide the necessary information that EA requests to be eligible to receive a prize. EA reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any potential winner based on such background check if EA determines, in its sole discretion, that awarding a prize to such winner might reflect negatively on EA.

8. ENFORCEMENT

EA Accounts, the leaderboard, and match data may be audited, including for malicious behaviour and cheating. Any Competitor may be disqualified immediately from the Competition and related competitions, at the discretion of EA or its designees, for any reason, including for any failure to comply with the User Agreement, Privacy and Cookie Policy, and these Official Rules, including the Code of Conduct at Appendix B, which may include but is not limited to:

• using any cheats, hacks or other third-party “helper” applications;

• intentionally disconnecting from the Internet during an Event;

• colluding with other Competitors (as further described in Appendix B2);

• taking advantage of known exploits in the Game (it is the responsibility of Competitors to understand and avoid all current illegal exploits); or

• abusive or disorderly behaviour, including any use of harassing, negative, or profane language online.

EA, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to restart any match at any time and/or disqualify any Competitor at any time, for any reason, including but not limited to tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Competition, or acting in violation of these Official Rules or in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner and reserves the right to void all associated entries. EA’s failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision.

9. PRIZES

Prize amounts for Events that award prizes are detailed in Appendix C.

9.1 Prizes Terms and Conditions

Prizes are not transferable. No substitution of prizes for other goods and services is permitted, except that EA reserves the right to provide a substitute of approximately equal or greater value if an advertised prize is unavailable or not allowed by local law. All federal, state, provincial and local taxes, and international tariffs are the sole responsibility of the individual winner.

Potential winners will be required to complete, sign, and return a Prize Winner Declaration and Release within ninety (90) days of completion of the applicable Event to claim a prize. If a potential winner fails to sign and/or return the Prize Winner Declaration and Release, refuses the prize, or is ineligible to accept the prize, the potential winner forfeits the prize.

Failure to communicate banking information or delivery method to the prize distribution vendor in a timely manner may result in forfeiture of the prize. If a potential winner is a minor in their territory of residence, the potential winner’s parent or legal guardian (as required by law) will be required to sign all necessary documents upon verification of identification. Receiving a prize is contingent upon compliance with these Official Rules. In the event a potential winner is disqualified, or the prize is forfeited for any reason, EA retains the discretion to donate the applicable prize to a charity of EA’s choosing. Potential winners may be required to provide a valid shipping address to claim a prize. Allow up to three (3) months for delivery of prizes.

In the event EA cancels or suspends the Competition pursuant to Section 2.4 above, prizes will be awarded for all Events prior to such cancellation or suspension.

10. GENERAL TERMS

Nothing in these Official Rules shall be deemed to exclude or restrict any Competitor’s statutory rights as a consumer.

10.1 Personal Information

By participating in the Competition, all Competitors acknowledge that EA and the third-parties listed in Section 10.2.2. will process their personal information (including name, address, date of birth, EA Account Name, email address, Supported Platform username, and country/territory of residence) (collectively, “Personal Information”) in accordance with the EA Privacy and Cookie Policy, available at https://privacy.ea.com, and each third-party’s privacy policies, for the purposes listed therein. If Personal Information has been collected from Competitors by another organising entity, Competitors agree to the organising entity transferring such Personal Information to EA.

Personal Information will be used and processed as described in the relevant privacy policies, including for the purposes of:

• Organising, running, and monitoring the Competition and prize fulfilment, including for Competitors that win a prize, publishing Competitor names and countries of residence online or in any other media in connection with the Competition, as described further below;

• Analytics of a Competitor’s general gameplay activity, including sharing Competitor gameplay activity with Sony Interactive Entertainment for this purpose. Analytics will be conducted in the aggregate, where possible. ;

• Ensuring a Competitor’s adherence to EA’s User Agreement.

• Determining a Competitor’s eligibility to compete in the Competition;

• Announcing Competitor demographics, along with gameplay statistics, as part of the Event broadcast commentary;

• Sharing Personal Information with designated Competition operators and/or administrators, including for booking travel and soliciting feedback on the Competition, gameplay and features of EA game titles; and

• Promotional and marketing materials that may reference Personal Information.

Personal Information will be processed in the United States and potentially other countries in which EA, its subsidiaries, or third party agents operate. By entering the Competition, Competitors consent that their Personal Information may be transferred to recipients in the United States and other countries that may not offer the same level of privacy protection as the laws in your country/territory of residence or citizenship, as further explained in the Privacy and Cookie Policy.

Competitors have the right to access, withdraw, and correct their Personal Information. Competitors may request such action by visiting EA’s Privacy Portal, https://www.ea.com/privacy-portal.

Please note that EA may request background investigations for Competitors that EA invites to Live Events. EA may request Competitor consent and provide details about such investigations if applicable and necessary.

The organising entity for the Competition, if applicable, shall be considered a data controller for the database containing the Personal Information submitted by Competitors. Please refer to the privacy policy of such an organising entity for details regarding how your data is processed and your rights with respect to it.

10.1.1. Third-Party Leaderboards

Certain websites and online services may publish Competition and/or individual Competitor statistics, including those that personally identify Competitors by their public usernames (“Third-Party Leaderboards”). Some of these Third-Party Leaderboards compile publicly available information, while others may receive certain additional Competitor statistics directly from EA. Additional Competitor information provided by EA to Third-Party Leaderboards may include Competitor identifiers (such as their username), performance in the game (such as score, possession %, number of shots, etc.), and overall competitive placement relative to other participants. In all cases Third-Party Leaderboards are independent data controllers of the information they collect or receive, and process it according to their privacy policies. If Competitors desire to exercise their privacy rights with respect to such information (such as access, deletion, restriction, etc.), they must utilise the process provided for by the Third-Party Leaderboards in their privacy policies. Competitors acknowledge that it is within EA’s legitimate interests and its sole discretion to provide Competitor statistics, including those not otherwise publicly available, to Third-Party Leaderboards for the purpose of enhancing the Competition experience.

10.1.2. Applicability of User Agreement and Privacy and Cookie Policy

If there is any conflict between these Official Rules and the Privacy and Cookie Policy or the User Agreement, then the Privacy and Cookie Policy or User Agreement, as applicable, will control.

10.2. Release and Publication of Competitor Information 10.2.1. Winner’s List

EA will post a winner’s list on the Tournament Site after all winners are confirmed within two (2) weeks after the end of each Event. This list will remain posted at least for three (3) months after the end of the Competition.

10.2.2. Grant of Rights

Competitor grants to EA, Sony Interactive Entertainment and Partner Leagues the right to publish and otherwise use Competitor’s statistics and rankings in connection with the Competition for any purpose, including for marketing and promotional purposes, without consent or compensation to Competitor.

By accepting a prize, Competitor grants to EA, Sony Interactive Entertainment and Partner Leagues the right to use their Personal Information and any other information provided by Competitor, without further consent or compensation to Competitor, for the administration, marketing and promotion of the Competition, EA, and/or the Game, unless otherwise noted below:

• Background Information: full name, country/territory of residency, age, Supported Platform Username (e.g., PSN ID, EA Account ID), e-mail address

• Social Media Information: X (formerly Twitter) handle, YouTube channel, Twitch account, Discord username, Instagram username

• Photos: Any photos provided by Competitor to EA or photos of Competitor taken onsite at a Live Event

• Other Information for Event Officials only: shirt size, dietary restrictions, mobile phone number

• Any Other Biographical Information Provided by Competitor (e.g., favourite professional sports teams players)

10.2.3. EA Account Information

Competitors acknowledge and agree that EA may provide their Account Information (name, Online ID, age, country/territory, game play stats and scores, and email address) to Battlefy Technologies Inc. and other vendors for the purposes of administering any and all Events, including contacting Competitors by email and/or other means.

10.3. Governing Law; Release of Liability 10.3.1 EA’s Decisions

EA’s decisions will be final and binding on all matters related to the Competition.

10.3.2. Governing Law

To the extent permissible by local law, the Competition is governed by the laws of the State of California and all claims must be resolved in the United States.

10.3.3. Release

To the extent permissible by law, Competitor agrees to release and hold harmless EA and its agents from any and all liability or any injury, loss, damage, right, claim or action of any kind arising from or in connection with the Competition or any Competition-related activity, or the receipt, acceptance, possession, use or misuse of EA-provided travel or any prize won.

10.3.4. For Residents of Austria, Germany and Poland

Notwithstanding any other provision herein, nothing in these Official Rules shall have the effect to deprive a Competitor of the consumer protection rights granted by the laws of your residence that cannot be derogated from by agreement. With respect to the Prize and any other products or services given by EA and its affiliates free of charge, EA shall only be liable for intent and gross negligence. In case of slight negligence, however, EA is only liable for the breach of essential contractual obligations, such as delay or impossibility of performance, which EA can be made responsible for. The liability in the event of breach of such an essential contractual obligation is limited to the typical contractual damage, whose occurrence could be expected by the EA upon conclusion of the contract on account of the circumstances known at that time. “Essential contractual obligations” are those obligations whose fulfilment is essential to enable the proper implementation of the contract and the achievement of its purpose and whose observation you as an end consumer may rely upon. The foregoing limitations of liability shall not apply in the case of explicit guarantees by the EA, in cases of malice and injuries to life, body or health as well as in the case of mandatory statutory regulations.

10.3.5. For Residents of the United Kingdom and France

Notwithstanding any other provision herein, to the extent allowable under applicable law, each Competitor agrees to release and hold harmless EA and its agents from any and all liability or any injury, loss, damage, right, claim or action of any kind arising from or in connection with the Competition or any Competition-related activity or the receipt, possession, use or misuse of any prize won, except with respect to claims resulting from death or personal injury arising from EA’s negligence and with respect to claims resulting from the tort of deceit or any other liabilities that may not be excluded by law.

10.3.6. For Residents of Australia

Notwithstanding any other provision herein, to the extent allowable under applicable law and subject to and without excluding, restricting or modifying any rights or remedies to which the Competitor may be entitled as a consumer under the consumer guarantee provisions of the Australian Consumer Law, each Competitor agrees to release and hold harmless EA and its agents from any and all liability or any injury, loss, damage, right, claim or action of any kind arising from or in connection with this Competition or any Competition- related activity or the receipt, possession, use or misuse of any prize won.

11. COMMERCIAL RIGHTS

All commercial rights (including, without limitation, all marketing, and media rights) relating to the Competition are reserved for EA.

Competitors shall not associate themselves with the Competition and/or EA in any commercial manner, nor use any intellectual property rights of EA, nor shall they permit any third parties to do so, without the prior written consent of EA, which may be granted or withheld at EA’s sole discretion.

Any Competitor or a Competitor’s sponsor wishing to engage in any promotional or marketing activities with respect to the Competition, including at any Competition tournament venue, will need prior written consent from EA, which may be granted or withheld at EA’s sole discretion.

The recording and dissemination of images or footage of the Competition for commercial purposes by or on behalf of any Competitor is strictly prohibited, except when explicitly authorised by EA.

12. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

EA is not responsible for: (i) inaccurate information, whether caused by entrants, typographical errors, or equipment or programming associated with the tournament; (ii) technical failures, including without limitation, network malfunctions, interruptions, or disconnections; (iii) unauthorised intervention in the entry process of the tournament; (iv) technical or human error in the administration of the tournament or the processing of registrations; (v) late, lost, undeliverable, erroneous, damaged or stolen mail or electronic communications; (vi) ineligibility for any reason, including entrant’s misunderstanding of the Official Rules and requirements or the entry process.

APPENDIX A: ELIGIBLE COUNTRIES/TERRITORIES & REGIONS

APPENDIX B: CODE OF CONDUCT

This Code of Conduct applies to all Competitors at all levels of the Competition unless otherwise specified. EA reserved the right to levy penalties, sanction or disqualify any Competitor, for violations of this Code of Conduct in its sole discretion. Competitors will be responsible for the conduct of their Coaches, including but not limited to, ensuring their Coaches follow the Code of Conduct.

B1. COMPETITIVE BEHAVIOUR

Competitors are some of the best and highest profile players in the world and are therefore ambassadors of the Competition and as held to a high standard by EA, the public, and the media. Competitors must conduct themselves in accordance with commonly accepted standards of decency, social conventions and morals, and to not commit any act or become involved in any situation or make any statement which brings disrepute, contempt, scandal, ridicule, or disdain to the Competitor, EA, the Competition, or to its Competitors and sponsors.

These requirements apply to live, offline, and online interactions, in and out of the Competition, including with respect to social media conduct and activity on live streams, past conduct and during Live Events. All Competitors are expected to adhere to these standards of sportsmanship and the EA Rules of Conduct, available at https://terms.ea.com, at all times, including when not participating in EA sanctioned events.

Competitors must maintain an appropriate level of respect, in EA’s sole judgement, towards other Competitors, referees, officials, event staff, and tournament administrators (collectively, “Event Officials”). Threatening or inappropriate behaviour towards Event Officials and/or other Competitors will not be tolerated. Competitors must follow the instructions of EA or Event Officials at all times.

Prohibited conduct includes, but it not limited to:

• Violating any law, rule or regulation, as determined by EA in its sole discretion;

• Using any software or program that damages, interferes with or disrupts an EA service or another's computer or property;

• Using any external software designed to give the Competitor an unfair advantage;

• Interfering with or disrupting other Competitor's participation in the Competition;

• Harassing, threatening, bullying, engaging in hate speech, repeatedly sending unwanted messages, including making personal attacks or statements about race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, heritage, etc.;

• Using vulgar or offensive language;

• Physical abuse, fighting, or any other threatening action directed at any Competitor, spectator Event Official, or any other person;

• Damage and/or abuse to game devices, hardware, and peripherals, tournament equipment, or the facility/venue/lodging;

• Publishing, posting, uploading, or distributing content, or organising/participating in any activity, group or guild that EA reasonably determines is inappropriate, abusive, hateful, harassing, profane, defamatory, threatening, obscene, sexually explicit and/or exploitive, infringing, privacy-invasive, vulgar or otherwise inconsistent with the goodwill of EA and its partners, offensive, indecent or unlawful;

• Interfering with or interrupting the broadcast or broadcast production;

• Interfering with gameplay, including purposefully breaking a game station, interrupting the power supply, leaving a station before the conclusion of a match, refusing to play, and abuse of in-game pausing;

• Failure to cooperate with safety and security requirements, such as metal detectors, bag searches and COVID testing;

• Failure to follow instructions given by Event Officials and security personnel; Logging into the provided game devices with a personal account or playing any game other than the copy of the Game provided for use in the tournament;

• Failing to be available for any post-tournament awards ceremonies, interviews, and the entirety of a Live Event, as well as any promotional activities reasonably requested by EA or other sponsor;

• Competitors watching video streams and/or listening to live coverage of their own match while the match is still in progress;

• Carrying out any third-party promotional activity in connection with the Competition unless approved in advance in writing by EA. Using exploits, cheats, undocumented features, design errors or bugs in the Competition;

• Selling, buying, trading or otherwise transferring or offering to transfer an EA Account or any EA content associated with an EA Account, including EA virtual currency and other entitlements, either within an EA service or on a third party website, or in connection with any out-of-game transaction, unless expressly authorised by EA;

• Playing on behalf of another Competitor, or allowing someone else to play on Competitor’s behalf, in any competitive game mode;

• Gambling, including betting on the outcome of Competition matches;

• Disclosing confidential information provided by EA or any of its affiliates; Communicating with anyone other than Event Officials in any way during an Competition match until the Competitor is eliminated;

• Accepting or giving gifts, bribes, rewards or compensation for services that are rendered in connection with competing in the Competition (with an exception for Competitors with sponsors who pay them based on their performance);

• Causing or contributing to scandal, reputational harm or risk to the integrity and reputation of the Competition or EA;

• Engaging in any other activity that significantly disturbs a peaceful, fair and respectful gaming environment of the Competition;

• Failure to attend a Live Event at the applicable date(s) and time(s) posted on the Tournament Site or otherwise communicated to Competitors by tournament sponsor or staff;

• Promoting, encouraging or taking part in any prohibited activity described above; and Repeated behaviour that goes against the spirit of the Competition.

B2. COLLUSION & MATCH-FIXING POLICY

Any action or agreement to disadvantage other Competitors, to predetermine the outcome of a match, to try to lose a match, to affect the fairness of the Competition, or to limit efforts to win a match is strictly prohibited.

Any Competitors determined by EA to be violating this rule at any phase in the Competition may be removed from the Competition. Such Competitors may be forced to forfeit or return any compensation and/or prizes and may have their EA and/or Game accounts suspended.

Examples of collusion include, but are not limited to:

• Intentionally losing a match for any reason at any portion of an Event;

• Playing on behalf of another Competitor, including using a secondary account, to aid them during any portion of an Event;

• Any form of match-fixing or communication with other Competitors or Coaches related to match play or strategy;

• “Soft play”, defined as a Competitor not giving their best effort or not taking reasonable and fair actions to gain advantages against their opponent(s) in a match;

• Agreeing to split prize money; and Allowing an opponent to score more or fewer goals than they normally would to impact the rankings.

B3. DRUG & ALCOHOL POLICY

Competitors may not be under the influence of drugs or alcohol while participating in the Competition. Competitor use of alcohol or drugs is prohibited on any Live Event premises.

Smoking, including the use of e-Cigarettes and vaporizers, is prohibited during any Live Event except in designated areas. Some Live Event venues may ban smoking entirely.

B4. DRESS CODE

Competitors who compete in Live Events must wear attire that is appropriate under the circumstances (as determined by EA).

B4.1. Official Team Wear

If a Competitor has adopted official team wear for use in competitions, the Competitor shall, during all public-facing Events (including Live Events and all Media Events), wear that official team uniform.

If a Competitor has a registered Coach, this coach must wear officially licensed apparel of the same team. A Coach may wear unbranded attire only when a Competitor does not have a team affiliation. Should a Coach not have appropriate attire, they will be refused access to the playing area within a competition.

If a Competitor does not have the option to adopt official team wear, then Competitors shall wear unbranded apparel for the event, which is subject to approval by EA.

Additionally, if a Competitor has adopted official team wear for competitions, then that team wear shall be designed and manufactured by each team at its own expense. EA has the right to propose modifications to all team wear.

Competitors may wear apparel with multiple logos, patches, or promotional language. EA always reserves the right to impose a ban on apparel that does not meet the Competition's minimum aesthetic standards or that is objectionable or offensive, including any apparel that:

• Contains any false, unsubstantiated, or unwarranted claims for any product or service or testimonials that EA, in its sole and absolute discretion, considers unethical.

• Advertises any brand whose business falls within the Prohibited Sponsorship Categories list in Appendix B7.

• Contains any information or material that violates the Code of Conduct in this Appendix section.

B4.2. Apparel Guidelines

Outerwear, including hoodies and jackets, may only be worn onstage if they are official team wear, have official team branding on the front and only use official team colours represented on the team’s approved jersey. A jersey with a hood can be considered a jersey and not outerwear.

A Competitor may not cover their face or attempt to conceal their identity from Event Officials. Event Officials must always be able to distinguish the identity of each Competitor. They may instruct Competitors to remove any material that inhibits the identification of Competitors or is a distraction to other Competitors or Event Officials.

Competitors shall not wear, carry, or bear any items of a political nature, or which in EA's opinion cause controversy or reflect unfavourably upon EA, its partners, or the Competition.

Competitors shall not carry out any promotional activity or marketing of brands and services in connection with the Competition unless otherwise approved in writing by EA.

Competitors are required to wear closed shoes and full length trousers during all Live Events. Should a Competitor not arrive in appropriate attire, they will be refused participation in the Event.

B5. REPORTING VIOLATIONS

To report a potential breach of these Official Rules, please email fcleagueops@ea.com.

B6. PENALTIES

Violation of these Official Rules or Event Rules may, at EA's discretion, result in penalties, disqualification, change in match results, loss of winner status, and/or forfeiture of prizes. All decisions and rulings of EA or Event Officials relating to the Competition are final and binding. EA reserves the right to penalise any Competitor in the Competition at any level, at any time, for any reason. Penalties may include, but are not limited to, any or all of the following:

• Warning

• Reprimand

• Forfeiture of single game

• Forfeiture of all games

• Reduction in match score

• Loss of awards (including prize money and paid travel expenses)

• Temporary or permanent suspension from the Competition

• Disqualification from the Competition, Competition Events and future competitions or Events;

• Loss of Competition Rankings Points.

• A deduction of points scored during a group stage.

• Automatic game loss

• Forfeiture of any registration fees to participate in an Event

• Loss of future prize money

• Suspension of one (1) or multiple game accounts for the EA service(s) used by the Competitor

• Disqualification of leaderboards that serve as qualifiers for Events

EA also has the right to publicly announce penalties that have been levied on Competitors, and such Competitors waive any right of legal action against EA, and/or any of its affiliates.

B7. COMPETITIOR SPONSORSHIP

Competitors in the Competition may acquire and work with promotional sponsors. Promotional sponsorship is limited, however, to exclude certain categories and industries. If the promotional sponsor falls under one of the below categories, the Competitor may not display or promote the sponsorship in conjunction with EA, its partners, or the Competition that offer or are associated with:

• Gambling, wagering, or lottery products or services including but not limited to sports betting, fantasy sites gambling or similar websites or services;

• Alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs, restricted drugs and/or similar products or paraphernalia;

• Firearms or any type of weapons;

• Pornographic or any sexually explicit or adult material;

• High fat, salt or sugar foods and drinks (for the avoidance of doubt, this restriction shall only apply to HFSS food or drink product imagery, and shall not apply to the use of HFSS product producer branding, provided that said branding does not feature HFSS food or drink products within its brand, logo, title or any other asset);

• Energy drinks, powder or similar products (for the avoidance of doubt, this restriction shall only apply to the imagery of said products, and shall not apply to the use of product producer branding, provided that said branding does not feature the imagery of those products within its brand, logo, title or any other asset);

• Dietary supplements;

• Medical devices, services, or treatments;

• Political ads or otherwise promoting a political agenda;

• Cryptocurrency companies and/or websites promoting/relating to the trade of cryptocurrency;

• Illegal products or services, or content that otherwise violates any applicable laws in the territories where the Game is available;

• Products or services from direct competitors of EA, its partners, and its other subsidiary brands;

• Direct competitors of Competition official marketing partners;

• Anything that is detrimental to EA’s business (e.g., hacking, gold services, account/coin selling, etc.)

• Anything that is inconsistent with the ESRB, PEGI, OFLC, USK or applicable rating(s) of the Game in a given territory.

The list is illustrative and non-exhaustive. EA reserves the right to add or remove any product or service from the list at any time without notice. Promotional sponsors are subject to EA review and any exceptions to the above will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Partner League Events may have additional restrictions to ensure there are no conflicts with event sponsors.

B8. STAGE AND COMPETITIOR NAMES

Competitors will be asked to select a unique username (“Display Name”) during the registration process. This Display Name will be used to identify Competitors during any Live Events. It can be the same as their EA Account ID or PSN ID, but is not required to be the same.

Display Names must:

• Be unique globally from other Competitors’ names. In the event of a conflict, EA or Event Officials will notify affected Competitors and request submission of a new name.

• Be at least five characters and may use uppercase letters, lowercase letters, digits, underscores, or single space between words only.

• Not be deemed vulgar by EA and its affiliates.

• Not: (a) infringe on a third party's intellectual property rights; or (b) violate the law, EA’s User Agreement or a third party's right of privacy or right of publicity.

EA and Event Officials reserve the right to reject any Display Name for any reason and to require the Competitor to select an alternate name that complies with these Official Rules.

B9. GLITCHES

Any attempt to glitch the game in order to gain an advantage is prohibited: Procedure After a Glitch Penalty: In the event that an Event Official determines that a penalty was caused by an unauthorised glitch, the following action will be taken to return the game to a fair state depending on the result of the play: the game clock and match score will be reset to the state at the time of the penalty.

B10. CONCEDING A MATCH

Competitors are discouraged from conceding matches during the Competition. Concessions may be allowed without penalty in emergency situations as well as situations that do not impact the placement of other Competitors outside of the current match at the sole discretion of EA.

APPENDIX C: PRIZES

All amounts are in USD.

C1. EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Global Qualifier

Prizing is awarded based on finishing placement in the EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Global Qualifier.

Total Prize Pool = $147,000

C2. EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Cups

Prizing per Open Cup per Region. Prizing is awarded based on finishing placement in each of the FC Pro Open Cups Playoffs. Total prizing across all EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Cups is $321,000.

Total Prize Pool = $321,000

C3. EA SPORTS FC Pro Open

Prizing is awarded based on finishing placement in the EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Finals.

Total Prize Pool = $532,000

C4. EA SPORTS FC Pro World Championship

Prizing is awarded based on finishing placement in the EA SPORTS FC Pro World Championship.

Total Prize Pool = $1,000,000

C5. Partner League Event Prizing

Prizing for Partner League Events will be documented in their Event Rules.

APPENDIX D: EA SPORTS FC PRO OPEN LADDER RULES

D1. SQUAD BUILDING & FORMATION RESTRICTIONS

Competitors’ squads are subject to the following restrictions:

• Up to one (1) ICON

• Up to one (1) Hero

• Up to two (2) non-ICON or Hero items above 90 OVR

• All other items must have an OVR of 89 or below

• Restrictions apply to both the starting 11 and substitutes and do not apply to the goalkeeper.

• An additional Hero may replace an ICON in any squad.

• An additional non-ICON or Hero rated 90 OVR or above may replace an ICON or Hero in any squad.

Competitors may use Loan Items in their squad.

Competitors are required to check their opponent's squad on the Upcoming Squad screen during the start of the match and to report any issues immediately. Matches progressing beyond the first half will be considered valid. To report issues with an opponent’s squad, Competitors are required to immediately contact Event Officials using the "Report Match Issue" button on the Battlefy match page, and upload to match chat a picture of the opponent’s squad (e.g. the Upcoming Squad screen or another screen showing the opponent’s full squad).

Competitors found with squads that violate the squad building restrictions may receive a loss for that match. Repeated occurrences will result in removal from the tournament.

D2. GAMEPLAY SETTINGS

Competitors must have access to the FC Pro mode in-Game to participate in the EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Ladder. Competitors will have to navigate to the ‘FC Pro’ tab within the Ultimate Team mode in-Game to invite or to receive an invite from their opponent.

All match lobbies must be created with the following settings: Basic Settings

• Game Data Centre Selection: Direct

• Game Start Time: 0

• Home Score: 0

• Away Score: 0

• Leg: First

Advance Settings

• First Ball Possession: Home

• Game 1 Tiebreaker Options: Extra Time

Ruleset FC Pro Open

If a match is restarted due to a disconnection, then the Game Start Time, Home Score and Away Score settings should be set as described in Appendix D8.

The default settings are:

• Half Length: 9 minutes

• Stadium: UT Stadium

• Ball: FC Pro Ball

Competitors may pause up to three (3) times per half.

The default tournament server is Direct. A data centre can be used if agreed upon by both Competitors using Battlefy chat. Competitors may also be instructed to use a specific data centre by an Event Official if there are excessive connection issues. The Event Official will determine this based on submitted evidence via the Battlefy dispute process (described in Appendix D7). Both Competitors will be given a formal warning for tracking purposes. Those with frequent connection problems may be required to play all future matches for the Competition using a neutral or disadvantageous data centre.

D3. HOSTING

The host and, therefore, the home team of the match will be decided on a coinflip, which takes place in the Battlefy match chat by typing “/coinflip”. The winner of the coinflip will send the lobby invite to their opponent and be responsible for setting up the match.

In the instance that there are multiple coin flips conducted at the same time, the first instance of the coinflip will override any other result in the match chat.

D4. TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE & MATCHMAKING

During the qualifying period for their Region, Competitors search for matches to compete in by logging into the Tournament Site, navigating to the Event-specific page and clicking the “Search for an Opponent” button.

D5. TIEBREAKERS

If Competitors are tied in their peak placement ranking at the end of the ladder tournament, the tiebreaker will be resolved by the following methods for seeding purposes for the FC Pro Regional Qualifiers only, in descending order of priority:

• Finishing placement on the ladder at the end of the tournament

• Highest total number of wins in the tournament

• Highest total number of goals scored

• Least total number of goals conceded

D6. COMMUNICATION

The official communication channels for the tournament are Battlefy Match Chat and the official Discord chat channels for the tournament. Communications through other channels for the purposes of administrative decision-making will not be monitored or reviewed.

Competitors are required to join and be in the tournament Discord server for the duration of the matches played in the event so that Event Officials can easily reach them. Competitors are required to set their nickname in Discord to match the Battlefy username used during the registration process on the Tournament Site.

Once Competitors have been paired for a match, they are required to communicate using Battlefy match chat to exchange lobby codes and invites to set up their match.

Competitors must link their Discord and Battlefy accounts to receive Discord support.

D7. DISPUTES

Use the "Report Match Issue" button on the Battlefy match page for any issue. Competitors must immediately contact an Event Official to report any violations of the Official Rules, including these Event Rules.

A match’s final score will stand if a match is played beyond the first half with incorrect settings before an Event Official is contacted. Suppose Event Officials deem an automatic match loss for a Competitor due to violating the Official Rules. In that case, the Competitor’s opponent from the match in question will be given a win for that match with a three (3) goal differential or the goal differential (if the opponent was leading) at the time the issue was reported, whichever is greater.

D8. CONNECTION

If after being paired, neither Competitor in the pair can successfully invite the other, Competitors must contact Event Officials by clicking the Report Match Issue button on their Match Page and then immediately taking the following actions:

• Check that the NAT type is OPEN on their consoles’ network settings

• BOTH Competitors must restart their internet modems

• BOTH Competitors must restart their routers (if connected)

• BOTH Competitors must restart their consoles

If connection issues arise during a game and Competitors cannot reconnect, they must contact Event Officials immediately. Competitors must take the steps above and reconnect within ten (10) minutes, or a match loss may be applied. If a Competitor cannot obtain an open NAT type, they will be locked out of matchmaking at the discretion of Event Officials.

If a Competitor experiences a disconnect, they must immediately take a screenshot and notify an administrator in Battlefy Match Chat. The match should be restarted with the score and starting time as of the disconnect.

Competitors with repeated connection issues during the tournament may be subject to penalties, including match loss, formal warning, and being locked out from matchmaking (full list of potential penalties in Appendix B6), at the discretion of the Event Officials.

APPENDIX E: EA SPORTS FC PRO OPEN REGIONAL QUALIFIERS RULES

E1. SQUAD BUILDING RESTRICTIONS

Competitors’ squads are subject to the following restrictions:

• Up to one (1) ICON

• Up to one (1) Hero

• Up to two (2) non-ICON or Hero items of 90 OVR or above

• All other items must have an OVR of 89 or below

• Restrictions apply to both the starting 11 and substitutes and do not apply to the goalkeeper.

• An additional Hero may replace an ICON in any squad.

• An additional non-ICON or Hero rated 90 OVR or above may replace a Hero in any squad.

Competitors may use Loan Items in their squad.

Competitors are required to check their opponent's squad on the Upcoming Squad screen during the start of the match and to report any issues immediately. Matches progressing beyond the first half will be considered valid. To report issues with an opponent’s squad, Competitors are required to immediately contact Event Officials using the "Report Match Issue" button on the Battlefy match page, and upload to match chat a picture of the opponent’s squad (e.g. the Upcoming Squad screen or another screen showing the opponent’s full squad).

Competitors found with squads that violate the squad building restrictions may receive a loss for that match. Repeated occurrences will result in removal from the tournament.

E2. GAMEPLAY SETTINGS

Competitors must have access to the FC Pro mode in-Game to participate in the EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Regional Qualifier. Competitors will have to navigate to the ‘FC Pro’ tab within the Ultimate Team mode in-Game to invite or to receive an invite from their opponent.

All match lobbies must be created with the following settings: Basic Settings

• Game Data Centre Selection: Direct

• Game Start Time: 0

• Home Score: 0

• Away Score: 0

• Leg: First

Advance Settings

• First Ball Possession: Home

• Game 1 Tiebreaker Options: Extra Time

Ruleset

• FC Pro Open

If a match is restarted due to a disconnection, then the Game Start Time, Home Score and Away Score settings should be set as described in Appendix E4.

The default settings are:

• Half Length: 9 minutes

• Stadium: UT Stadium

• Ball: FC Pro Ball

Competitors may pause up to three (3) times per half.

The Swiss portion of the tournament will be played as a single leg. The Double-Elimination portion of the tournament will be played over two (2) legs.

The default tournament server is Direct. A data centre can be used if agreed upon by both Competitors using Battlefy chat. Competitors may also be instructed to use a specific data centre by an Event Official if there are excessive connection issues. The Event Official will determine this based on submitted evidence via the Battlefy dispute process (described in Appendix E7). Both Competitors will be given a formal warning for tracking purposes. Those with frequent connection problems may be required to play all future matches for the Competition using a neutral or disadvantageous data centre.

E3. HOSTING

The host and, therefore, the home team of the match will be given to the higher-seeded Competitor during both the Swiss tournament and the Double-Elimination tournament. The higher-seeded Competitor will send the lobby invite to their opponent and be responsible for setting up the match in single leg games. In two legged competition, each Competitor will be responsible for setting up one leg each with the higher seeded Competitor determining the order.

The seeds will be determined for the Swiss portion of the tournament by a Competitor’s placement on the FC Pro Open Ladder leaderboard. The seeds will be determined for the Double-Elimination portion of the tournament by a Competitor’s finish in the Swiss portion of the tournament.

E4. TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

E5. TIEBREAKERS

If Competitors are tied during the Swiss tournament, the tiebreaker will be resolved by the following methods for seeding purposes of Day 2 of the FC Pro Regional Qualifiers only, in descending order of priority:

• The Competitors’ Opponent’s Match Win Percentage

• The Competitors’ Game Win Percentage

• The Competitors’ Opponent’s Opponent’s Match Win Percentage

E6. COMMUNICATION

The official communication channels for the tournament are Battlefy Match Chat and the official Discord chat channels for the tournament. Communications through other channels for the purposes of administrative decision-making will not be monitored or reviewed.

Competitors are required to join and be in the tournament Discord server for the duration of the matches played in the event so that Event Officials can easily reach them. Competitors are required to set their nickname in Discord to match the Battlefy username used during the registration process on the Tournament Site.

Once Competitors have been paired for a match, they are required to communicate using Battlefy match chat to exchange lobby codes and invites to set up their match.

Competitors must link their Discord and Battlefy accounts to receive Discord support.

E7. DISPUTES

Use the "Report Match Issue" button on the Battlefy match page for any issue. Competitors must immediately contact an Event Official to report any violations of the Official Rules, including these Event Rules.

A match’s final score will stand if a match is played beyond the first half with incorrect settings before an Event Official is contacted. Suppose Event Officials deem an automatic match loss for a Competitor due to violating the Official Rules. In that case, the Competitor’s opponent from the match in question will be given a win for that match with a three (3) goal differential or the goal differential (if the opponent was leading) at the time the issue was reported, whichever is greater.

E8. CONNECTION

If after being paired, neither Competitor in the pair can successfully invite the other, Competitors must contact Event Officials by clicking the Report Match Issue button on their Match Page and then immediately taking the following actions:

• Check that the NAT type is OPEN on their consoles’ network settings

• BOTH Competitors must restart their internet modems

• BOTH Competitors must restart their routers (if connected)

• BOTH Competitors must restart their consoles

If connection issues arise during a game and Competitors cannot reconnect, they must contact Event Officials immediately. Competitors must take the steps above and reconnect within ten (10) minutes, or a match loss may be applied. If a Competitor cannot obtain an open NAT type, they will be locked out of matchmaking at the discretion of Event Officials.

If a Competitor experiences a disconnect, they must immediately take a screenshot and notify an administrator in Battlefy Match Chat. The match should be restarted with the score and starting time as of the disconnect.

Competitors with repeated connection issues during the tournament may be subject to penalties, including match loss, formal warning, and being locked out from matchmaking (full list of potential penalties in Appendix B6), at the discretion of the Event Officials.

APPENDIX F: EA SPORTS FC PRO OPEN GLOBAL QUALIFIER RULES

F1. FC PRO DRAFT

The EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Global Qualifier (“Global Qualifier”) will use the FC Pro Draft squad building mechanic. Competitors will receive an email invitation no later than one (1) week prior to the competition, to create an account on https://draft.fcpro.com/ (“Draft Website”) if they have not previously created an account on the Draft Website. Competitors are required to use the email address and username from the invitation to create an account on the Draft Website. F1.1. FC Pro Draft Mechanic Once a Competitor has created an account on the Draft Website, they will receive access to the squad builder for the Event. Competitors are permitted to submit one (1) squad for the Event. Competitors are required to log into the Draft Website and save their desired squad, including the starting eleven (11) players, substitute players, squad order, and formation (each, a “Drafted Squad”) by Thursday, October 31, 2024 at 18:00 UTC. Once the deadline has elapsed, no further changes to a Competitor’s Drafted Squad will be permitted and all squads will be publicly available to view on the Draft Website. Competitors who do not submit a Drafted Squad by the deadline will be assigned a default squad as their Drafted Squad. For each match in the Event, Competitors are required to build their squad in-Game to replicate their Drafted Squad and compete with this squad. F1.2. FC Pro Draft Restrictions for Global Qualifier Competitors will receive the FC Pro Draft restrictions via Discord, no later than one (1) week prior to the first match day of the Competition. The prices shown on the Draft Website are a snapshot of the in-Game transfer market at a certain moment in time as dictated by EA and are not necessarily the actual prices as shown on the transfer market in-Game at the time of building squads.

F2. GAMEPLAY SETTINGS

Competitors will have to navigate to the ‘FC Pro’ tab within the Ultimate Team mode in-Game to invite or to receive an invite from their opponent. All match lobbies must be created with the following settings:

Basic Settings

• Game Data Centre Selection: Direct

• Game Start Time: 0

• Home Score: 0

• Away Score: 0

• Leg: First

Advance Settings

• First Ball Possession: Home

• Game 1 Tiebreaker Options: Extra Time

Ruleset

• FC Pro Open Global Qualifier

If a match is restarted due to a disconnection, then the Game Start Time, Home Score and Away Score settings should be set as directed by Event Officials. The default settings are:

• Half Length: 9 minutes

• Stadium: UT Stadium

• Ball: FC Pro Ball

Competitors may pause up to three (3) times per half.

F3. HOSTING AND SEEDING

The host and, therefore, the home team of the match will be given to the higher-seeded Competitor during both the Swiss tournament and the Double-Elimination tournament. The higher-seeded Competitor will send the lobby invite to their opponent and be responsible for setting up the match. Competitors will be seeded into the Swiss stage based on their rankings based on performance in the Competition (“FC Pro World Rankings”) as of their qualification date. For the knockout stage, competitors will be seeded based on their performance in the Swiss stage.

F4. TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Times shown below are an approximation and are subject to change. Subsequent competition rounds for the day will begin at the conclusion of the preceding round. Event Officials will provide information on the exact start time live at the Event.

F5. COMMUNICATION

Communication during the tournament will take place on the official EA SPORTS FC Pro Discord server. Competitors will be invited to a specific FC Pro Open Global Qualifier event channel on Discord. Should a Competitor have any non-immediate issues throughout the event, they should use this channel as the main contact method.

F6. CONNECTION

If connection issues arise during a game, Competitors must raise the issue immediately to an Event Official. The Event Official will determine whether the match should be restarted and, if so, will inform the affected Competitors of the match time, score and possession to restart the match with.

F7. DISPUTES

A match’s final score will stand if a match is played beyond the first half with incorrect settings before an Event Official is contacted. Suppose Event Officials deem an automatic match loss for a Competitor due to violating the Official Rules. In that case, the Competitor’s opponent from the match in question will be given a win for that match with a three (3) goal differential or the goal differential (if the opponent was leading) at the time the issue was reported, whichever is greater.

F8. ACCOUNT USE

Competitors will be provided with EA Accounts for competitive play, for the sole purpose of taking part in the FC Pro Open Global Qualifier. Competitors may not use a provided account outside of active event days, use the account for any function outside of playing a match in the Event or creating and/or editing their squad for upcoming matches in the Event OR share the account/login details or information with any other individual(s) including, but not limited to, their Coach, other Competitors, etc.). The accounts provided will be limited with items from a Competitor’s Drafted Squad. The player items from EA shall only be used by Competitors in the in-Game Ultimate Team game mode in the dedicated 1v1 FC Pro Mode. If these items are used by a Competitor in any other mode, they will be removed from the account and such items will not be reissued. It is the Competitors' responsibility to configure their account to their preferences, including the creation of their squad and account settings. Competitors must ensure they do not access accounts that have not been given to them specifically.

APPENDIX G: LIVE EVENT MATCH & EQUIPMENT RULES

G1. LIVE EVENT MATCH RULES

G1.1. Game Specific Rules

No warm-up or practice games are permitted once the current matches have begun on the active stations. No food or drinks other than water (in unbranded water bottles) are permitted at a Competitor’s station. Water bottles must remain on the ground and out of camera shot when not being used. Competitors will have five (5) minutes in between each match to adjust personal preferences and game settings and ensure their equipment is functioning properly. If a Competitor, Event Official, or game observer fails to load into a match or loses their connection to the game during or before the start of the match, the match may be restarted from the beginning at the discretion of the Event Officials. If an Event Official or game observer disconnects from a match after the match has begun, but all Competitors remain in the match, the match will continue. Competitors who end a match without an Event Official’s permission may forfeit the match. The language used in Competitor communication will be governed by the Code of Conduct, which can be found in Appendix B.

G1.2. Match Restarts

If a match is started without the approval of an Event Official, it may be restarted from the beginning at the discretion of the Event Officials. In the event of a match interruption where a Competitor disconnects or the match must be restarted, Event Officials will monitor the match state and reset the match to the minute the disconnect took place and reset the score to the score at the time of the issue in addition to awarding the possession to the correct side. If a match is restarted, no alterations can be made to the squad that each Competitor submitted at the start of the match. If any Competitors are found to have made any alterations to their squad during a match restart, they will immediately forfeit their match. If a Game malfunction occurs and the cause cannot immediately be identified, an Event Official may call for the Game to be paused to investigate further.

G1.3. Match Process

All Competitors must be present to start a match. A Competitor will forfeit their match if they are not present within ten (10) minutes after the match’s scheduled start time. If a match has not begun by ten (10) minutes after the scheduled start time and neither Competitor is present, the match win may be awarded to the higher seeded Competitor or no win may be awarded, at the discretion of the Event Officials. If a match cannot begin at its scheduled start time due to a delay in the preceding match at the station, a grace period equal to the length of the delay caused by the preceding match will be applied to the scheduled start time. The Event Officials reserve the right to modify the tournament schedule, including accelerating the start times of matches and reducing the grace period length (e.g. 3 minute grace period for matches on broadcast). Once a match starts, it should be played to completion. Competitors are not permitted to leave their station while their active match is ongoing. Competitors may forfeit a match if they leave their station without the express permission from the Event Officials or are otherwise unable to play. Competitors may ask an Event Official for permission to leave their station during a pause, for an emergency or for an extended break between matches. The Event Officials may set a time limit by the end of which the Competitor must return to their station, or they may deny the Competitor’s request. Competitors may forfeit a match if they haven’t returned by the end of the time limit set by the Event Officials. Competitors are prohibited from using the controller overlay in-Game at any point during a match. If a Competitor uses the controller overlay in-Game during a match, the Competitor understands Event Officials will not pause or interrupt the match and Competitor’s point of view (including the overlay) may be shown on broadcast or in the Event venue.

G1.4. Match Disputes

To dispute match results, Competitors must notify an Event Official that they would like to protest the match within five (5) minutes of the completion of the match and before a new match has begun.

G1.5. Coaches

Coaches are prohibited from touching a Competitor’s controller during a match. Competitors and Coaches are prohibited from looking at an opposing Competitor’s monitor or projected screen during a match.

G2. LIVE EVENT EQUIPMENT

G2.1. Controllers

Competitors are required to provide their personal controllers and ensure their controllers’ proper function, whether provided by themselves or the Event Officials. Competitors may bring backup equipment to use in situations if a malfunction occurs. Controllers may be provided by Event Officials on a first-come, first-served basis. Competitors are required to use an officially licensed PlayStation controller; this includes third-party licensed controllers like SCUF. Competitors may not use a “turbo” or a macro button controller. Turbo controllers allow Competitors to press a button that results in performing a set of actions that would normally require the Competitors to press the same button multiple times. Button Macro controllers allow Competitors to press a button that results in performing a set of actions that would normally require the Competitor to press multiple buttons. Competitors may not use a controller that has been modified in such a way that it alters their abilities and/or in-game mechanics in such a way that the modification offers an unfair competitive advantage (as determined in the Event Officials’ sole discretion). Competitors may not compete using a Bluetooth connection with their controller. Competitors are required to maintain a wired connection with their console at all times. Competitors can pause the game to call an Event Official to assist with equipment issues. Event Officials will not assist with Competitor equipment. All Competitor equipment is subject to Event Official approval. The Event Officials reserve the right to deny the use of anything suspected of providing an unfair competitive advantage.

G2.2. Headsets

Should Competitors not be allowed to use their own headsets during an Event, this will be specified in each of the Event Rules.

G2.3. Other Equipment

Competitors are required to use the console, monitor, headset, and network equipment provided by the Event Officials. If a Competitor finds an issue with the provided equipment, they should notify an Event Official immediately. If the Event Official can confirm that an issue has occurred, they will determine whether the match should be restarted, the win should be awarded to a Competitor, or the conditions under which the match should be resumed. Wireless devices, including mobile phones and smartwatches, are allowed in the match area, while the Competitors are involved in active play to provide music whilst playing. Any use of earphones must not be visible and must be covered with a headset at all times. Any wireless device that is used for providing music during play must be placed face-up on the desk at all times for monitoring purposes. If a Competitor is found to be interacting with a device during a live match, it will be confiscated by an Event Official and the privilege revoked for the remainder of the Competition.

APPENDIX H: EA SPORTS FC PRO OPEN CUPS RULES

H1. SQUAD BUILDING RESTRICTIONS

Competitors’ squads are subject to the following restrictions:

• Up to one (1) ICON

• Up to one (1) Hero

• Up to two (2) non-ICON or Hero items of 90 OVR or above

• All other items must have an OVR of 89 or below

• Restrictions apply to both the starting 11 and substitutes and do not apply to the goalkeeper.

• An additional Hero may replace an ICON in any squad.

• An additional non-ICON or Hero rated 90 OVR or above may replace a Hero in any squad.

• Competitors may use Loan Items in their squad.

Competitors are required to check their opponent's squad on the Upcoming Squad screen during the start of the match and to report any issues immediately. Matches progressing beyond the first half will be considered valid. To report issues with an opponent’s squad, Competitors are required to immediately contact Event Officials using the "Report Match Issue" button on the Battlefy match page, and upload to match chat a picture of the opponent’s squad (e.g. the Upcoming Squad screen or another screen showing the opponent’s full squad). For issues with prohibited formations, Competitors are required to submit a picture or video of their opponent’s squad formation (which can be found by pausing the game and navigating to the Player Ratings menu). Competitors found with squads that violate the squad building restrictions may receive a loss for that match. Competitors found to be using a restricted formation at any point during a match will be given an immediate loss. Repeated occurrences will result in removal from the tournament.

H2. GAMEPLAY SETTINGS

Competitors must have access to the FC Pro mode in-Game to participate. Competitors will have to navigate to the ‘FC Pro’ tab within the Ultimate Team mode to invite or to receive an invite from their opponent.

All match lobbies must be created with the following settings:

Basic Settings

• Game Data Center Selection: Direct

• Game Start Time: 0

• Home Score: 0

• Away Score: 0

• Leg: First

Advance Settings

• First Ball Possession: Home

• Game 1 Tiebreaker Options: Extra Time

Ruleset

• FC Pro Open Cup

If a match is restarted due to a disconnection, then the Game Start Time, Home Score and Away Score settings should be set as described in Appendix H8. The default settings are:

• Half Length: 9 minutes

• Stadium: UT Stadium

• Ball: FC Pro Ball

Competitors may pause up to three (3) times per half. The ladder & Swiss portion of the tournament will be played as a single leg. The Single-Elimination portion of the tournament will be played over two (2) legs. The default tournament server is Direct. A data centre can be used if agreed upon by both Competitors using Battlefy chat. Competitors may also be instructed to use a specific data centre by an Event Official if there are excessive connection issues. The Event Official will determine this based on submitted evidence via the Battlefy dispute process (described in Appendix H7). Both Competitors will be given a formal warning for tracking purposes. Those with frequent connection problems may be required to play all future matches for the Competition using a neutral or disadvantageous data centre.

H3. HOSTING

H3.1. Ladder Hosting

The host and, therefore, the home team of the match will be decided on a coinflip, which takes place in the Battlefy match chat by typing “/coinflip”. The winner of the coinflip will send the lobby invite to their opponent and be responsible for setting up the match. In the instance that there are multiple coinflips conducted at the same time, the first instance of the coinflip will override any other result in the match chat.

H3.3. Playoffs Hosting

The host and, therefore, the home team of the match will be given to the higher-seeded Competitor during both the Swiss tournament and the Single-Elimination tournament. The higher-seeded Competitor will send the lobby invite to their opponent and be responsible for setting up the match in single leg games. In two legged competition, each Competitor will be responsible for setting up one leg each with the higher seeded Competitor determining the order. The seeds will be determined for the Swiss portion of the tournament by a Competitor’s placement on the FC Pro Open Ladder leaderboard. The seeds will be determined for the Single-Elimination portion of the tournament by a Competitor’s finish in the Swiss portion of the tournament.

H4. TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE & MATCHMAKING

H4.1. EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Cups Ladder

During the qualifying period for their Region, Competitors search for matches to compete in by logging into the Tournament Site, navigating to the Event-specific page and clicking the “Search for an Opponent” button.  

H4.2. EA SPORTS FC Pro Open Regional Cups Playoffs

H5. TIEBREAKERS

If Competitors are tied in their peak placement ranking at the end of the ladder tournament, the tiebreaker will be resolved by the following methods for seeding purposes for the FC Pro Open Regional Cups Playoffs only, in descending order of priority:

• Finishing placement on the ladder at the end of the tournament

• Highest total number of wins in the tournament

• Highest total number of goals scored

• Least total number of goals conceded

If Competitors are tied during the Swiss tournament of the Playoffs, the tiebreaker will be resolved by the following methods for seeding purposes of Day 2 of the FC Pro Open Playoffs only, in descending order of priority:

• The Competitors’ Opponents’ Match Win Percentage

• The Competitors’ Game Win Percentage

• The Competitors’ Opponents’ Opponents’ Match Win Percentage

H6. COMMUNICATION

The official communication channels for the tournament are Battlefy Match Chat and the official Discord chat channels for the tournament. Communications through other channels for the purposes of administrative decision-making will not be monitored or reviewed. Competitors are required to join and be in the tournament Discord server for the duration of the matches played in the event so that Event Officials can easily reach them. Competitors are required to set their nickname in Discord to match the Battlefy username used during the registration process on the Tournament Site. Once Competitors have been paired for a match, they are required to communicate using Battlefy match chat to exchange lobby codes and invites to set up their match. Competitors must link their Discord and Battlefy accounts to receive Discord support.

H7. DISPUTES

Use the "Report Match Issue" button on the Battlefy match page for any issue. Competitors must immediately contact an Event Official to report any violations of the Official Rules, including these Event Rules. A match’s final score will stand if a match is played beyond the first half with incorrect settings before an Event Official is contacted. Suppose Event Officials deem an automatic match loss for a Competitor due to violating the Official Rules. In that case, the Competitor’s opponent from the match in question will be given a win for that match with a three (3) goal differential or the goal differential (if the opponent was leading) at the time the issue was reported, whichever is greater.

H8. CONNECTION

If after being paired, neither Competitor in the pair can successfully invite the other, Competitors must contact Event Officials by clicking the Report Match Issue button on their Match Page and then immediately taking the following actions:

• Check that the NAT type is OPEN on their consoles’ network settings

• BOTH Competitors must restart their internet modems

• BOTH Competitors must restart their routers (if connected)

• BOTH Competitors must restart their consoles

If connection issues arise during a game and Competitors cannot reconnect, they must contact Event Officials immediately. Competitors must take the steps above and reconnect within five (5) minutes, or a match loss may be applied. If a Competitor cannot obtain an open NAT type, they will be locked out of matchmaking at the discretion of Event Officials. If a Competitor experiences a disconnect, they must immediately take a screenshot and notify an administrator in Battlefy Match Chat. The match should be restarted with the score and starting time as of the disconnect. Competitors with repeated connection issues during the tournament may be subject to penalties, including match loss, formal warning, and being locked out from matchmaking (full list of potential penalties in Appendix B6), at the discretion of the Event Officials.

APPENDIX I: EA SPORTS FC PRO OPEN RULES

I1. FC PRO DRAFT

I1.1. FC Pro Draft Mechanic Competitors are permitted to submit one (1) squad for the Event. Competitors are required to log into the Draft Website and save their desired squads, including the starting eleven (11) players, substitute players, squad order, and formation (each, a “Drafted Squad”) before each play day at 00:00 UTC. Once the deadline has elapsed, no further changes to a Competitor’s Drafted Squad will be permitted and Competitors’ squads will be publicly available to view on the Draft Website. Competitors who do not submit a Drafted Squad by the deadline will be assigned a default squad as their Drafted Squad. For each match in the Event, Competitors are required to build their squad in-Game to replicate their Drafted Squad and compete with this squad. I1.2. FC Pro Draft Restrictions for Global Qualifier Competitors will receive the FC Pro Draft restrictions via the FC Pro Discord, no later than one (1) week prior to the first match day of the Competition. The prices shown on the Draft Website are a snapshot of the in-Game transfer market at a certain moment in time as dictated by EA and are not necessarily the actual prices as shown on the transfer market in-Game at the time of building squads.

I2. GAMEPLAY SETTINGS

Competitors will have to navigate to the ‘FC Pro’ tab within the Ultimate Team mode in-Game to invite or to receive an invite from their opponent.

All match lobbies must be created with the following settings:

Basic Settings

• Game Data Center Selection: Direct

• Game Start Time: 0

• Home Score: 0

• Away Score: 0

• Leg: First

Advance Settings

• First Ball Possession: Home

• Game 1 Tiebreaker Options: Extra Time

Ruleset

• FC Pro Open Cup

If a match is restarted due to a disconnection, then the Game Start Time, Home Score and Away Score settings should be set as directed by Event Officials. The default settings are:

• Half Length: 9 minutes

• Stadium: UT Stadium

• Ball: FC Pro Ball

Competitors may pause up to three (3) times per half.

I3. HOSTING AND SEEDS

The host and, therefore, the home team of the match will be given to the Competitor that is on the left of the match sheet which will be distributed to Competitors no later than one (1) week before the first match day of the Competition.

I4. TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Times shown below are an approximation and are subject to change. Subsequent competition rounds for the day will begin at the conclusion of the preceding round. Event Officials will provide information on the exact start time live at the Event.

I5. COMMUNICATION

Communication during the tournament will take place on the official EA SPORTS FC Pro Discord server. Competitors will be invited to a specific FC Pro Open event channel on Discord. Should a Competitor have any non-immediate issues throughout the event, they should use this channel as the main contact method.

I6. CONNECTION

If connection issues arise during a game, Competitors must raise the issue immediately to an Event Official. The Event Official will determine whether the match should be restarted and, if so, will inform the affected Competitors of the match time, score and possession to restart the match with.

I7. DISPUTES

A match’s final score will stand if a match is played beyond the first half with incorrect settings before an Event Official is contacted. Suppose Event Officials deem an automatic match loss for a Competitor due to violating the Official Rules. In that case, the Competitor’s opponent from the match in question will be given a win for that match with a three (3) goal differential or the goal differential (if the opponent was leading) at the time the issue was reported, whichever is greater.

I8. ACCOUNT USE

Competitors will be provided with EA Accounts for competitive play, for the sole purpose of taking part in the FC Pro Open. Competitors may not use a provided account outside of active event days, use the account for any function outside of playing a match in the Event or creating and/or editing their squad for upcoming matches in the Event OR share the account/login details or information with any other individual(s) including, but not limited to, their Coach, other Competitors, etc.). Prior to the event days, Competitor accounts will have access to their respective EA account which they may only use for practice ahead of the event. The accounts provided will be limited with items from a Competitor’s Drafted Squad. The player items from EA shall only be used by Competitors in the in-Game Ultimate Team game mode in the dedicated 1v1 FC Pro Mode. If these items are used by a Competitor in any other mode, they will be removed from the account and such items will not be reissued. It is the Competitors' responsibility to configure their account to their preferences, including the creation of their squad and account settings. Competitors must ensure they do not access accounts that have not been given to them specifically.