Students can find out if they have what it takes to be a champion at the Xbox FIFA tournament hosted by the UK Student Activities Board.    

The tournament will be held Tuesday, Sept. 27 through Thursday, Sept. 29 in the Wendell & Vickie Bell Soccer Complex.

“This is a new event. It’s a collaboration between the Pop Culture Committee and the Committee of Student Life and also with UK Athletics,” said Kaelin Massey, SAB director of public relations.

SAB is expecting 64 participants for the video game tournament, so the matches can be held in a bracket format. If players lose once, they are out of the tournament and winners will move onto the next round, Massey said. 

The Student Activities Board strives to find new and fun ways to reach out to the student body and get them involved in campus life.

“Soccer is a main stream thing right now, especially FIFA as a whole. It was EA Sports number one release for a new game,” Massey said. “It proceeds to be one of the top selling games every time a new one comes out. It competes with Madden and NBA 2K, so everybody plays it. It is a popular game. We are just trying to give to all students and to their interests on campus.”

The idea for the tournament came from an all-student survey SAB distributed to the UK student body, Massey said. Many students gave positive response to the FIFA tournament idea, Massey said.

Every tournament contestant will receive a prize from SAB and the top eight finishers will receive special prizes. Prizes could consist of t-shirts all the way to a brand new Xbox.

“The winners will get a ticket to the UK men’s soccer game that Saturday which is on the first, and they will show a highlight from the final game of the tournament,” Massey said. “That’s where they will get their prizes.”

Shuttles will be available to transport students to and from campus to the soccer complex to watch and participate in the tournament. Shuttles will begin running at 5:30 p.m. looping between the William T. Young Library and Wildcat Alumni Plaza.

SAB hopes to continue events like this throughout the future featuring FIFA or potentially other sports video games like basketball or football.

The tournament begins at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept 27 and ends on Sept. 29 at 8:00 p.m. The event is free according to UKNOW’s website.