If you were watching Sky Sports 1 today, you could be forgiven for thinking the sporting landscape was moving into bizarre new territory.
The world of eSports is taking fans by storm with huge arenas getting booked out for competitive gaming across the globe and it's making its presence felt in New Zealand.
The FIFA football series is one of the most popular franchises in the world and has been running its very own World Cup since 2004 with the winner taking home $20,000 and a trip to the Ballon d'Or gala.
Today saw the semifinals and final played in Harlem New York in front of a packed theatre with the production values of a high-quality event.
United States football legend Alexi Lalas was an analyst while the games also had two commentators to help run through proceedings.
In the end it came down to Denmark's Mohamad Al-Bacha playing as France and England's Sean Allen playing as Brazil.
The final is a two-leg affair with one player choosing a PS4 or Xbox One as their 'home console'. Goals on an away console count as two if scores are level at the end of the two legs.
Allen came away from the first leg, on his away console, with a 2-2 draw before Al-Bacha went ahead early in the second leg.
But Allen came roaring back in the second-half, scoring three goals to seemingly book himself a visit with Cristiano Ronaldo.
But despite the halves only taking six minutes in real time, Al-Bachar performed the most incredible of comebacks, scoring two goals in the last 30 seconds to claim a World Cup for France, Denmark and his emotional friends in the crowd.
World Cup winner and New York City FC striker David Villa was even in attendance to hand the trophy to Al-Bachar.
But whether you think it's sport or not, you can't deny it's capable of giving us many of the same thrills that sport gives us.
Newshub.
