Soccer fans looking for a viable alternative to EA and the FIFA juggernaut will finally have something of a choice early next year: Konami of America announced today that it plans to bring Winning Eleven, the most popular soccer game in Japan and a virtual phenomenon over in Europe, to American shores for the first time ever.

The Winning Eleven series (called Pro Evolution Soccer in Europe) has gone through six versions around the world, selling more than four million copies and beating FIFA overall for the title of best-selling soccer game worldwide. Konami releases two versions of it every year in Japan for the PS2 (and sometimes GameCube): one covering international teams, and another including teams in the J.League, Japan's national pro soccer league. It's known for being a little friendlier overall than FIFA, with a full-featured franchise mode, very good animation and an AI that Konami modestly describes as "groundbreaking."

"Soccer fans around the world have declared Winning Eleven as their favorite soccer game, said produce manager Robert Goff. "Now, North American soccer fans have a chance to see what they've been missing... Winning Eleven elevates the genre to new levels with superior visuals and exciting gameplay, setting the standard by which all others will be judged."

The first U.S. Winning Eleven title (called Winning Eleven 6 in Japan and Pro Evolution Soccer 2 in Europe) will come out for the PS2 in March 2003. Hopefully it'll give EA something to worry about—Sega doesn't seem to be putting much of a dent in their sales, after all...