Last year, the FIWC 2016 Grand Final in New York took eSport to new, record-breaking heights, and the 2017 edition promises to raise the bar even higher! Ahead of the 2017 Grand Final,FIFA.com looks at some crucial FIWC numbers:

13

The FIWC 2017 will be the 13th edition of the event. It all began in 2004 in Zurich, where Brazil's Thiago Carrico de Azevedo was crowned the first-ever virtual football world champion!

7

This year, more than seven million players took part in online qualification for the FIFA Interactive World Cup 2017.

9

The number of Regional Finals organised this year between February and July, in three regions over three seasons.

6

Germany will have the most representatives in this Grand Final with six, followed by England (5), France and Brazil (3 each). Europe has the most players with 19, while the 'Americas' has nine participants, and the 'Rest of the World' four.

11

Of the 32 finalists, 11 are under contract with a professional football club.

200,000

The sum in US Dollars that the winner of the Grand Final will receive this year; that is ten times more than the amount Mohamad Al-Bacha, the 2016 winner, took home.

2

The number of world champions who have managed to repeat the feat and win the event again; they are Spain's Alfonso Ramos (2008 and 2012) and France's Bruce Grannec (2009 and 2013).

40

The FIWC 2016 Grand Final lit up social media with around 40 million interactions! What new heights will be reached this year? You tell us, using the hashtag #FIWC17!