NEW YORK – eMLS announced Monday its competitive schedule for 2020, which will be headlined by eMLS Cup during the second weekend of SXSW in Austin, Texas.

This announcement comes on the heels of the global release of EA SPORT FIFA 20.

The 2020 eMLS season will feature 25 eMLS players, each representing different MLS vlubs, in a quest to be crowned the best EA SPORTS FIFA 20 player in North America. Three teams are new to eMLS this season – LAFC, Austin FC and Nashville SC.

The season will begin in January with eMLS League Series, two majors in the lead up to eMLS Cup.

Each league series tournament will be live-streamed with their own trophy lift and prizing opportunities. During these tournaments, eMLS players will also accumulate points to determine seeding for eMLS Cup.

League Series One will be held in Philadelphia in conjunction with the Philadelphia Union. League Series Two will be held in Portland in conjunction with the Portland Timbers. The eMLS season will conclude in March in Austin, when SXSW hosts eMLS Cup alongside its premier gaming portion of the conference. More tournament details will be announced in the coming weeks.

eMLS is an official league partner of the EA SPORTS FIFA 20 Global Series. The winner of eMLS Cup will receive 850 Global Series points, supporting his or her qualification for the Global Series Playoffs and the FIFA eWorld Cup. The top 32 competitors in the EA SPORTS FIFA 20 Global Series will advance to the FIFA eWorld Cup, where the winner will be crowned the undisputed FIFA 20 World Champion.

2020 eMLS season schedule:

Jan. 10 – League Series One (Philadelphia, PA)
Feb. 15 – League Series Two (Portland, OR)
March 21 – eMLS Cup (Austin, TX)

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.