Amidst the Coronavirus outbreak cross the world, an unlikely form of entertainment as emerged from Leyton Orient FC.
The Coronavirus, or Covid- 19 to give it it’s official name, has forced football leagues across the world to suspend fixtures until a later date to reduce the risk of spreading the virus, leaving millions of football fans without a game to attend until early April at the earliest.
However, the mastermind behind LOFC’s twitter had the idea to create an Ultimate QuaranTeam competition on FIFA after some clubs played noughts and crosses and Connect4 on their twitter accounts. The competition uses the FIFA UltimateTeam format and has gathered an incredible one hundred and twenty eight (128) teams from around the globe.
The rules are simple; each club must be on the FIFA 20 game, released by EA in September 2019. Also, each club must be represented by a first player or a fan for the duration of the competition. All matches will be played on PS4, all players in game will be rated 85 and will consist of ONE knockout game, no replays.
Some big names have joined the QuaranTeam, such as; Ajax, Manchester City, and Fiorentina to name a few. A number of clubs pulled out of the competition after Orients affiliation with The Sun newspaper. Tranmere Rovers, Crewe Alexandra, and Bristol Rovers pulled out due to Leyton Orients sponsorship with DreamTeam, who sponsor the football club proper and not the QuaranTeam competition.
Edit: 18/03/20: Benfica have pulled out due to an error with their e-Sports team and didn’t actually mean to enter. FC Nordsjælland have also pulled out due to logistic issues with Covid-19. New opponents will be updated on the First Round draw page.
The clubs who are taking part have been encouraged to stream their ties on Twitch.tv so their respective fan base can enjoy the football.
Talking to the Sun newspaper, Luke Lambourne, media manager at LOFC said “With no football on at the moment, we wanted to give our supporters something to get behind.
“We saw the whole Connect Four thing over the weekend, and although it was fun at first, we thought it could be improved.
“After the media team spoke about it in house, we went for it, and the reaction has been superb.”
The Wandering Yorkshireman 