Salford City is the latest football team to take to the virtual FIFA 20 pitch

Salford City FC played Lincoln City in a football game last week, but it’s not the beautiful game as you would expect.

Because of the government-imposed lockdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the FA decided to indefinitely suspend the English Football League, with the future of the current sporting season being uncertain.

Instead, with the suspension of the EFL, Salford City and Lincoln City played out a 1-1 draw in a game of FIFA, as a part of the 2nd ever ‘English eSports 11v11 League’.

Games of FIFA 20 have become the new competition for many EFL teams, like Salford City and Lincoln

The Ammies took the lead in the 40th minute with a beautiful diving header before a well-worked goal in the 50th minute gave The Imps an equaliser.

Broadcast live on popular streaming site Twitch, the game saw 11 Salford representatives each control just one player on the pitch, against 11 other players from a different EFL side.

⚽️ MATCHDAY ⚽️

Here’s our Starting XI for our first game of the week!

🆚 @ImpsEsports
🕗 8PM BST
🏆 @VPGEngland

📺 Watch LIVE on our official Twitch account: https://t.co/zbmmbk0KCB pic.twitter.com/iNAe61zBN2

— Salford City eSports (@SCFCeSports) May 4, 2020

The League is set to last for around 3 months, with games being played every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 8 pm BST.

It has been set up by Virtual Pro Gaming (VPG), a leading company in the eSports industry.

Arron Dellosa, the Chief Executive Officer of VPG, believes that virtual sport has proven to be the perfect alternative for fans and viewers.

“Fans are missing football and the next best is virtual football. It’s not like watching a 1v1 game, 11 real human players playing on the same team at the same time is great to watch.

“Fans can watch it and support their team, and can also try to get themselves involved.”

“Many football clubs are broadcasting the matches to their main social media channels like Facebook, Twitter. This brings in a new younger demographic that is used to watching gaming and also will be great for fans to come and watch their local team.”

Salford City, after that draw in FIFA 20, does find itself playing again tonight, and the competition will only get tougher, with strong teams like Bradford City and Queens Park Rangers ahead of them.

Remember, to watch Salford City FC’s eSports team live, tune in here at 8pm BST.