Saints launch Stay At Home Cup

The eight-team tournament will unite a selection of Europe’s top clubs and their respective official FIFA esports players, with Manchester City, LOSC Lille, Lyon, Ajax, PSV, Werder Bremen and AS Roma joining Saints.

In what is an unprecedented and difficult time, the tournament will not only spread a message of global solidarity, but also provide the chance for each club to fundraise for their chosen cause at the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For Southampton, fundraising will be directed towards the Saints Foundation, Which has embedded itself further within the local community by offering new and existing initiatives, some of which come as a result of the recently launched Saints As One campaign.

The outreach and engagement project has been designed to help fans and members of society who find themselves isolated and vulnerable at this time, as well as educating, entertaining and uniting the Southampton FC family.

Those wishing to support the work of the Foundation can do so by clicking here.

The tournament will also continue to urge everyone to follow official advice by staying home and saving lives.

Commencing on Thursday 30th April, each team will play three group stage fixtures on successive Thursdays (5-8pm BST) to determine the top two advancing teams from each group.

The semi-final fixtures and grand final will then take place on Thursday 14th May (5-8pm BST).

All of the clubs involved in the tournament have full-time FIFA esports players who represent them in the FIFA Global Series competing at the top level of FIFA esports at domestic and major events such as the FIFA eClub World Cup and FIFA eWorld Cup.

Saints will be represented by its official esports player Owen Venn, with fans able to watch all his matches live on the club’s channels, with wider tournament highlights and action also shared.

Who is playing and where to watch:

Southampton: Saints Venny - Twitch.tv/southamptonfc/

Manchester City: MCFC Ryan -Twitch.tv/ryanpessoa_

Werder Bremen: Megabit & DrErhano - Twitch.tv/werder_esports

AS Roma: Roma Damie -Twitch.tv/roma_damie

LOSC Lille:  RayZiaaH  - Twitch.tv/losc_mces_esports/

Olympique Lyonnais: OL Aero

PSV: Ali Riza Aygün -Youtube.com/psv

AFC Ajax: Dani -Twitch.tv/AFCAjax  

Tournament schedule:

Thursday April 30th

Round 1: 5PM (BST)
Group A
Manchester City vs AS Roma
Olympique Lyonnais vs LOSC Lille

Group B
Werder Bremen vs PSV
Southampton vs Ajax

Round 2: 5.45PM (BST)
Group A
AS Roma vs Olympique Lyonnais
LOSC Lille vs Manchester City

Group B
PSV vs Southampton
Ajax vs Werder Bremen

Round 3: 6.30PM (BST)
Group A
LOSC Lille vs AS Roma
Olympique Lyonnais vs Manchester City

Group B
Ajax vs PSV
Southampton vs Werder Bremen

Thursday 7th May

Round 4: 5PM (BST)
Group A
AS Roma vs LOSC Lille
Manchester City vs Olympique Lyonnais

Group B
PSV vs Ajax
Werder Bremen vs Southampton

Round 5: 5.45PM (BST)
Group A
AS Roma vs Manchester City
LOSC Lille vs Olympique Lyonnais

Group B
PSV vs Werder Bremen
Ajax vs Southampton

Round 6: 6.30PM (BST)
Group A
Olympique Lyonnais vs AS Roma
Manchester City vs LOSC Lille

Group B
Southampton vs PSV
Werder Bremen vs Ajax

Thursday 14th May

Semi-Final 5PM (BST)
Winner of Group A vs Runner up Group B

Semi-Final 5.45PM (BST)
Winner of Group B vs Runner up Group A

Final 6.30PM (BST)