Brandon Smith’s Winter Invitational

INTRODUCTION AND ELIGIBILITY

The Brandon Smith Winter Invitational (the Tournament) is an open Tournament in EA Sports FC 26 (the Game) organised by Fnatic Ltd (Fnatic) and Red Bull.
There will be up to 64 individual players in the Tournament (each a Participant).
To qualify for the Tournament, Participants must be located in the UK and be over the age of 18 as of the Start Date.
Employees of Fnatic and all associated companies are not allowed to participate in this Tournament.
Participation in the Tournament by the Participants is subject to compliance with these T&Cs, Fnatic’s General Competition Terms, Social and Community Policy, Privacy Policy and any applicable terms of service which govern the Game.
Everybody who is authorised by Fnatic to administer the Tournament based on its rules and regulations will be called an Admin. The collection of all Admins will be called the Administration.
Red Bull is the sole sponsor of the Competition. Participants agree that their inclusion in the Competition is as an individual and must not reference, tag, or promote 3rd party sponsors in social media posts or other forums, either directly or indirectly.

FORMAT AND SCHEDULE

The Tournament open qualifiers will run on 24 January 2026 (the Open Qualifiers), with the top 4 Participants qualifying for the grand finals live event on 28 January 2026 at the Red Bull Gaming Sphere, Whitby St, London E1 6JT (the Grand Finals) (together, the Tournament Window).
The Open Qualifiers and the Grand Finals shall comply with the following rules:
1. Game Mode: Ultimate Team Friendly
2. Half Length: 9 Minutes
3. Winning Condition: Greater number of goals scored during normal time. If there is a draw after normal time, standard in-game tiebreaker rules (extra time and penalties, if required) shall apply.
The Open Qualifiers are a single-elimination game with the following rules:
1. A maximum of 2 players can be rated 90+
2. A maximum of 4 players can be rated 88-89
3. Unlimited 87 and below players
4. Special cards are allowed
5. 30+ chemistry is assumed
6. No loans allowed
The top 4 Participants of the Open Qualifiers will advance to the live event Grand Finals.
At the Grand Finals the 4 Participants will be paired up with an invited FC creator to play a 2v2 single-elimination Kick Off mode with 95 OVR, played on PlayStation 5.

REGISTRATION

All Participants have to sign up through Challengermode.
The Tournament will be seeded automatically at the beginning of the Tournament by Challengermode. All rounds and matches will start automatically at the scheduled start time or as soon as possible.
Participants do not need to ready up in the Challengermode lobby; games are automatically started instead.

PRIZES

The Participant who achieves:
Top 1 placement at the Qualifiers will be crowned a qualifiers victor (the Qualifiers Victor); and/or
Top 1 placement, together with the invited FC creator, at the Grand Finals will be crowned the final victors (the Finals Victors)

(together, the Qualifiers Victor and the Finals Victor being Victor(s)).

Prizes for the Tournament are as follows:
The Qualifiers Victor will receive a cash prize of £500;
The Finals Victors will receive a total cash prize of £1250 (£625 for the Participant and £625 for the FC creator)

(each a Prize).

Victor(s) will be contacted by Fnatic via email from an official Fnatic representative within 7 days following the last date of the Tournament Window. Fnatic may need to request a Victor’s personal address, clothing sizes, or other relevant information in order to provide and/or deliver the Prize.
Victor(s) must confirm the requested information to Fnatic within 3 days of Fnatic’s notification. If a Victor fails to respond, Fnatic may revoke the Prize from the Victor.
Prize will be dispatched by Fnatic within 60 days from the date a Victor responds to Fnatic’s notification, to the relevant contact details and/or address provided by the Victor.
The Prizes are as stated only, Fnatic will not pay out the cash value of the Prizes as an alternative in the case where a Prize is not a cash prize. There are still some countries we aren’t able to ship to (check the list here). If you win and you are located in a country we cannot ship to, we will do our best to find a solution or a prize of equivalent value, but Fnatic isn’t liable to you for the Prize if an alternative shipping arrangement cannot be reached.

MATCH RULES

Each match where Participants are competing (each a Match) will be played at a time within the Tournament Window to be determined by the Administration at their sole discretion.
Open Qualifiers Matches will be played online. Grand Finals Matches will be played live at the Red Bull Gaming Sphere, Whitby St, London E1 6JT, with a live broadcast on the Fnatic Twitch.
Matches start at the time stated by the Admins. Matches cannot be started earlier.
Matches cannot be postponed or rescheduled to another date or time for any reason, unless the previous Match runs for longer than planned.
If a Participant is not ready to start at the official Match time, the Admins in their sole discretion may disqualify the Participant from the match or the Tournament. Admins may extend the punctuality deadline in exceptional circumstances to get the match played at their sole discretion.

Before the Match

All Participants have to join the Tournament Discord server and check in with the Administration. All Participants must be available at the time the Matches start.

During the Match

If one Participant is not ready to start at the official Match time, the Admins in their sole discretion may disqualify the Participant from the match or the Tournament. Admins may extend the punctuality deadline in exceptional circumstances to get the match played at their sole discretion.
From the time a Match begins, Participants are prohibited from intentionally disconnecting from the Match. If a Participant disconnects intentionally after the Match has started, the Match will continue with the remaining Participants and will not be restarted.
A Participant may request a Match restart if the fairness of the Match is seriously compromised by an issue outside of the Participant’s control. Matters that may lead to the Match being restarted include, but are not limited to:
1. Participants using 3rd party tools or software in breach of the Game’s terms of service; or
2. if the Game crashes for all Participants in the Match.
All restart requests need to be flagged to the Administration with supporting evidence before a restart can be actioned. A decision on a Match restart will be at the sole discretion of the Administration.
If Participants are found guilty of bug abuse or in breach of the Game’s terms of service, they may face consequences including automatic disqualification. All punishment will be at the sole discretion of the Administration.

After the Match

The winning Participants of the Open Qualifiers have to self-report the score within 5 minutes on Challengermode after their Match has concluded.
Every Participant must save their own replays of all Matches for at least seven (7) days. Upon request by an Admin, each Participant must submit the replay to the Administration within 24 hours.
Protest against any other sort of rule violation by a Participant can only be reported with video evidence. The protest must include a specific timestamp when the violation took place, the name of the Participant who committed the violation, as well as a clear description of what happened. Protests that either lack evidence or details such as timestamps and descriptions will be discarded. All protests must be sent to an Admin via the Tournament Discord server or through the Tournament email address: community@fnatic.com.

Streaming

Each Participant may live-stream the entirety of their Matches with the permission of the Administrators. Permission should be sought through the Tournament Discord server or by emailing community@fnatic.com.
Each Participant that receives permission to stream their Matches must add to their stream (and maintain at all relevant times throughout the Tournament):
1. Tournament branding (in the form distributed by the Administration).
2. A stream delay of 3 minutes or more.

ADMINISTRATION AND COMMUNICATION

Every Participant acknowledges the right of the Administration to modify the rules and regulations for adjustments at any time without notice, and if necessary, overrule those to ensure fair play and integrity throughout the Tournament.
Every Participant must be respectful towards Admins and other Participants. Insults and unfair or disrespectful behaviour will not be tolerated and will be punished in accordance with these rules.
Every Participant has to try to win every Match of the Tournament. Purposefully losing for any reason is strictly forbidden.
Vulgar, racist, sexist or otherwise offensive player names are forbidden. This will be at the sole discretion of the Tournament Admins.
Every Participant acknowledges the right of the Administration to edit players’ names if names are deemed unfit for display.
Every Participant in the Tournament consents to the collection of footage, photo and audio material displaying or voicing them during the Tournament to be stored and used for announcements, website content and other publications by Fnatic unrestricted and unlimited in terms of time and place.
All communication between Participants and the Administration has to be held in English at any time and at any stage of the Tournament.
The Administration may only be contacted via the following e-mail address: community@fnatic.com or Tournament Chat or Discord. This helps Admins to coordinate as a team and work faster on issues. It will be the sole responsibility of Fnatic to manage communications on behalf of the Administration between Participants and the Administration. Any other form of communication shall be ignored.

PUNISHMENTS

The punishments for any rule violations include but are not limited to:
1. Participant loss of one Match
2. Disqualification from the Tournament
3. Disqualification from future Tournaments
A decision of an appropriate punishment shall be at the Administration’s sole discretion.

Brandon Smith’s Winter Invitational Tournament Rules