FIFA 21 Global Series European Playoffs: Winners, shocks & FIFAe World Cup qualifiers
The Fifa 21 European Global Series Playoffs for Xbox and Playstation kicked off at the start of July, with events over the weekends of 2nd-4th and 9th-11th.
Across the two weekends, the top 128 competitors (64 from each console) in Europe in the Fifa Global Series ranking battled it out for 18 remaining spots at the FIFAe World Cup (eWC) in London next month. The Cash Prize for each event was $400,000 dollars with the winners taking home $100,000.
We spoke to competitive Fifa player Josh Buchanan* – who you can find on Twitch here – to find out just how the tournament went down and who made it to the eWC.
*Josh Buchanan is a FIFA Ultimate Team Verified Player on Xbox who has twice achieved a Top 200 finish on FIFA 21 Weekend League, regularly hitting Elite by recording 23 wins or more.
Take a look at what Josh had to say here:
Tournament Format
The tournament was split across three days with a Swiss-style group stage used just like previous FGS events. Competitors faced each other based on their records, for example, if you have won two games and lost one, the opponent you face will have the same record. Competitors needed to win a minimum of three out of five games to progress into the knockout stage on day two.
The second day saw the final 32 competitors advance from the group into the knockout stage of the event, competing in a double-elimination across a two-legged tie to get into ‘Championship Sunday’ on day three. On Championship Sunday, all eight players who had already qualified for the eWC made one last surge to be crowned the European playoff champion.
As previously stated, there were nine places per console up for grabs, so players placed 9th-12th fought it out in a separate semi-final and final for the last spot on each respective console.
Four things learned from the tournament
Who were the console winners?
On the PlayStation, the current eLigue 1 Champion FoumaFIFA beat back-tot-back eLa Liga Champion DuxNeat 3-2 in a gripping final. After participating competitively for 10 years, Inter Milan’s Esports player Levy became the European Xbox playoff champion, taking home his first major trophy, the prize money and an eWC spot.
How did the No.1 seeds do?
It doesn’t matter if you’re the best on your respected console, Esports can sometimes be unforgiving with the No.1 ranked players on both Xbox and Playstation — Germany’s DullenMike and England’s own Hashtag Tom — both just falling short and failing to make it to the eWorld Cup. That, in turn, should really open up the field for the upcoming tournament.
What was the biggest upset?
The most decorated player in Fifa over the past few seasons, Fnatic Tekkz, didn’t even make it out of the first day of playoffs after losing three of his five games.
Luck definitely wasn’t on his side with some questionable misses from the usually-reliable Kylian Mbappe in the last game of the decisive final match. There will be no England players at this year’s eWC which is a huge shock and disappointment given the talent they have.
Who has qualified?
Xbox:
We're getting closer to finding our 32 #FeWC players 👀
After a hectic weekend, first half of the Europe squad is ready!🔥
Well done boys👏 @_lionel_10_ 🇮🇹 @BeneCR7x 🇩🇪 @hexongodmode 🇮🇹 @NFG_Jayden 🏴 @emilklenke 🇩🇰 @LevyFrederique 🇳🇱 @MLillelys 🇩🇰 @xMusti19 🇩🇪 & @xOpTolle 🇸🇪 pic.twitter.com/dOCD8G2kL9
— FIFAe (@FIFAe) July 4, 2021
Playstation:
After months of competitions, we're entering the final leg of the season💪
9 names join the club, claiming the very last #FeWC spots 🎟
Congrats👏 @AndoniiPM 🇪🇸 @DaniThe7th 🇵🇹 @DenisFIFA__ 🇩🇪 @DPeixoto7 🇫🇷 @FoumaFIFA 🇫🇷 @Gravesen_1 🇪🇸 @Neat11O 🇪🇸 @Oliboli_FIFA 🇸🇪 @UstunFFC 🇩🇰 pic.twitter.com/RDBJBRJ4gm
— FIFAe (@FIFAe) July 11, 2021
When is the Fifa eWorld Cup?
The eWorld Cup is the pinnacle of the Fifa Esports season. This is where the 32 best players from around the globe compete for the biggest prize to become world champion. All of the action will take place on the weekend of August 6th-8th.
