Spain wins FIFA Interactive World Cup

Stephen Withers
Monday, 26 May 2008 03:30

Your IT - Entertainment

The finals of the FIFA Interactive World Cup held at Berlin's Sony Centre saw Spain's Alfonso Ramos take the title with a 3-1 victory over Michael Ribero of the US in front of a 20,500 crowd.

Ramos collected the $US20,000 first prize and an invitation to the FIFA World Player Gala to be held in Geneva on January 12, 2008.

"I came here to do my best but really didn’t believe I would make it this far. It's been an absolutely fantastic day – to test myself against the world’s best virtual football gamers is what this tournament is all about," said Ramos.

"I'm really proud to be the first Spaniard to be crowned FIFA Interactive World Player and look forward to defending my title next year."

In the third and fourth playoff, Dominic Posch of Austria had a 2-1 victory over Andre Casagrande Buffo of Brazil.

32 players qualified for the finals after qualifying rounds held in 20 locations around the world and online.

The event's sponsors sounded happy.

“Congratulations to Alfonso Ramos, the fourth ever FIFA Interactive World Player of the year, who impressed us all with his skills today,” said Romain Rossi, marketing director of EA Sports. "It's been a great season and together [with] FIFA and PlayStation we cannot wait to see the kick-off of the FIFA Interactive World Cup 2009 later this year."