Sam Mort, 24, won the prestigious title after winning the Australian qualifier for the FIFA Interactive World Cup Grand Final 2010 on Sunday playing EA Sports' FIFA 10 on PlayStation 3.

Mort has won a dream prize - an all-expenses paid trip to join 32 of the world's best virtual footballers at the world grand final in Barcelona  early next month.  

Mort was inundated with messages of congratulations at work today - including one from dual A-League grand final winner Mark Bridge.

"He said it was unreal, man," an excited Mort told au.fourfourtwo.com today. "Mark may've won an A-League grand final but I've now won a FIFA final!"

Mort, a salesman originally from St Clair in the west of Sydney, grew up playing football with Mark Bridge and Danny Vukovic.

In Barcelona Mort will compete for the title of FIFA Interactive World Player 2010 and a champion's prize of US$20,000.

Played at the Royal Easter Show on Sunday afternoon Mort beat the reigning Australian champion to claim the title in an 8-3 whitewash.

"I pretty much live on FIFA so EA Sports is the only game I play. And you actually get quite a few friendships online from playing it," he added.

The winner of the Barcelona Grand Final will also attend the FIFA World Player Gala in 2010 where they will have the chance to meet some of the world's elite male and female footballers

The reigning champion of the world is 21-year-old Bruce Grannec from France was crowned the FIFA Interactive World Champion for 2009.

But Australia's representative is not short on confidence saying he's going to Barcelona with the highest of expectations.

"The Australian player I beat is rated in the top ten in the world so I think I've got a very good chance of winning," he said.

"But obviously the French guy will take the favourites tag but I hope I get him in my group. I want to beat the best."

The event in Sydney was one of ten live qualifier events that took place around the world including Brazil, South Africa, Russia and Japan. All qualifiers took place between October last year and April 2010.  

This year marks the sixth edition of the FIFA Interactive World Cup. Last year's tournament witnessed over 515,000 players compete in the online qualification in an attempt to join the 19 winners from the live qualifier events at the Grand Final in Barcelona.

au.fourfourtwo.com will follow our man Sam goes in his quest to be world's best in the Catalan capital.