*It was just announced that Chad Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald will be in attendance at the Canadian EA Madden Challenge finals.  For the full story and press release, click here!

The Canadian qualifier for the Electronic Arts Madden Challenge begins on Saturday with 512 participants. The Canadian qualifier has grown each of the past four years and for the first time they've become officially partnered with EA and will have its winner representing Canada in the world finals in Honolulu on February 10 at the Pro Bowl.

To fill in the tournament field with the top talent Canada has to offer, Rogers Video stores hosted twenty regional qualifiers for different areas in Canada and the winners have all been flown into Toronto for the finals. The qualifers will receive the benefit of first round byes in the tournament. Several thousands of gamers have registered for the 512-man tournament and blind drawing will determine who joins the regional winners in the final event. Those drawn have been notified and have trekked from all over Canada to show their Madden prowess.

Head to head play in Madden NFL 07 is one of the most popular ways to game on the Xbox 360

The regional winners are certainly some of the favorites to win the overall event as they each receive a bye into the field of 256 and have proven themselves against stiff competition at regional qualifiers already. Will that experience translate into a win by one of these talented competitors? Only a day full of hard-hitting Madden action will tell. With such a large field, GotFrag has elected to closely track the results of the 20 regional winners and has player profiles for each. It’s time to read up on who the top Canadian players are and pick your favorite to win the overall event. Remember, the winner of the Canadian qualifier will be up for the $100,000 prize in Hawaii just a few weeks from today!