Despite spending an entire season as the manager of an English Premier league team, Ted Lasso still doesn’t have all of the game’s basics down. Or, you know, most of them. For one, he keeps calling it soccer instead of football. He also can’t remember the team has training, not practice. And dang it if he still doesn’t quite understand the offside rule. But Xs and Os have never been what makes him a great coach. What makes him great is that no matter how dire things might seem, Ted Lasso lives by one code: “believe.” And whether he wins or not, we believe we’re going to watch Jason Sudeikis, in character as Ted Lasso, play in EA Sports’ upcoming FIFA video game tournament.
Especially since Coach Beard will be by his side.
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EA Sports has announced (in news we first heard at GameSpot) its new “FIFA Face-Off” esports game show. The two-part live competition will pit celebrities, “top EA Sports FIFA professionals and influencers, and four lucky contestants” from the FIFA community against one another. For the celebs that will be like plucking an American college football coach to manage a professional English soccer team.
So it’s only fitting Sudeikis will participate as Ted Lasso. That’s not the only thing fans of the show can look forward to though. Sudeikis will also be joined by his co-star Brendan Hunt, who plays Coach Beard on the series.
📢 The big news keeps on rolling in! 📢@AFCRichmond's @TedLasso and @TheCoachBeard will be entering the #FIFAFACEOFF on March 26 and they will be putting on a show you won't forget! 🎬 pic.twitter.com/kcKXZCSv7Z
— EA SPORTS FC (@EASPORTSFC) March 19, 2021
“Having previously no experience coaching soccer, or football if you will, I think Ted Lasso is the perfect candidate for dominating in an EA Sports FIFA esports competition,” said Sudeikis, in a press release. “That said, Ted’s passion for competing and having Coach Beard at his side in support may just be enough for him to achieve esports glory in the world’s most popular sports video game. Never underestimate Coach Ted Lasso.”
We would never bet against him.
The Daily Show‘s Trevor Noah will also participate. Along with musicians Becky G and Nicky Jam. The two-part show airs live on March 19 and 26 at 12:30 pm EST. You can watch via EA Sports FIFA Twitch and EA Sports YouTube channel. The celebrities should have at least a fighting chance though. They won’t be playing alone.
“During both episodes, celebrities and EA Sports FIFA pros will pair up, select their rosters through FIFA Ultimate Team, and compete in a two-legged competition to win a share of a $25,000 prize pool on behalf of lucky EA SPORTS FIFA fans. These fans were selected after winning a video submission community contest that accumulated tens of thousands of submissions.”
We don’t care if he calls it a field instead of the pitch. Or even that he doesn’t know the first thing about English football. Believe us when we say we always want Ted Lasso on our team.