The Madden Championship is a $50,000 Tournament featuring Madden NFL 16 on the Xbox One® and is the EA Competitive Gaming Division’s second major Madden competition of the year. The event began with sixteen players who overcame incredible odds to reach this stage.

The final four from February’s Madden Challenge received automatic invitations and were joined by twelve players who battled through a series of intense online ladders and tournaments on both the Xbox One® and PlayStation 4® consoles.

The featured game mode for the tournament is the exciting Madden Ultimate Team: Salary Cap (MUT:SC), in which players not only call and execute plays on the field but are given the chance to act as the general manager, building their squad from the ground up. The Salary Cap requires players to make difficult roster decisions in constructing a strong offense, elite defense, or balanced team. The fantasy element of lining up with Tom Brady and Odell Beckham Jr. in 49ers uniforms is further energized by the ability to sprinkle in retired stars like Bo Jackson.

The tournament utilizes the familiar World Cup format with players evenly divided into four groups of four. The group stage took place on Friday and Saturday with the top two players in each group advancing to Monday and Tuesday’s single elimination bracket.

After two days of nonstop action featuring highlight reel catches, improbable comebacks, nail-biting goal line stands and last second Hail Marys, the final eight have been competing live from EA PLAY.  Tune in to the EA Sports Twitch channel or ESPN 2 on Tuesday at 3 pm PT to see who will take the Madden Championship title and the $20,000 first place prize.

John Nelson serves as Senior Manager, Competitive Gaming at EA. John is on the ground at EA PLAY in LA, where he’s helping execute the Madden 16 Championship.