The official governing body of football, FIFA, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) and Electronic Arts have announced that the new season of the FIFA Interactive World Cup begins today ‘inside’ EA’s latest and newly released football game, Fifa 10 on the PlayStation 3.

The FIFA Interactive World Cup, now in its sixth year, is a season-long tournament running alongside the real world football season, in which gamers from around the world will participate and compete against one another to claim their spot in the Grand Final.

In order to enter the tournament, gamers will need to enter live qualifier events taking place around the world, in Australia, Brazil, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Poland, Russia, South Africa and, of course, the UK, or by simply playing online.

This year’s FIFA Interactive World Cup has been split into two separate seasons, the first of which began on October 2nd and will conclude on December 18th this year, during which time ten of the best players in this season will be brought through to the Grand Final, which takes place at Port Olympic in Barcelona, on May 1st next year.

Players from the first season who didn’t make it into the Grand Final can try again during season two - that begins on January 4th next year, and ends on March 31st.

In order to enter the online portion of the tournament, competitors need to register ‘inside’ the retail version of Fifa 10 on PS3 now across Europe and Asia, and from the 20th of October for North American gamers.

The 31 finalists, alongside the 2009 FIFA Interactive World Cup Champion, Bruce Gannec from France, will compete to become the 2010 world champion of the tournament, and will receive an invitation to the FIFA World Player Gala as well as a $20 0000 (US) cash prize. The runner-up will receive $5000 (US), and the player who comes third will receive $1 000 (US).

According to a member of the FIFA Executive Committee and patron of the FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC), Chuck Blazer, last year’s event was a roaring success: “More than 500,000 players vied for a spot in the Grand Final at last year’s FIFA Interactive World Cup. This makes it the FIFA tournament with the most competitors.

“The FIWC is becoming more and more popular among all age groups and the great thing is that everybody can participate,” continued Blazer. “Players can face each other whenever they want and wherever they are – this is truly unique.”

VP for Brand and Consumer Marketing at SCEE, Darren Carter is also extremely confident in the event, saying: “The FIWC is a great example of what can happen when you take one of the worlds best selling games, mix it together with the world’s favourite games console, and open it up to the community.

“We are very excited about this year’s tournament and wish everybody competing the best of luck.”

For all of the official rules, terms and conditions, head on over to the official FIFA Interactive World Cup website over here.