Olle “Ollelito” Arbin of Team Gullit has defeated Hamburger SV’s Umut Gültekin 4-3 in the cross-console Grand Final to win FUT Champions Cup Stage 3 in Atlanta, Georgia. It was the crowning moment of a tournament that saw many of the game’s best players struggling to adapt to a new highly-defensive meta.
The first leg of the Grand Final was on Ollelito’s “home” console, Xbox, where he looked comfortable, winning 3-1. The second leg on PlayStation could have seen his narrow lead overturned, but before the game Ollelito had spoken about how much he’d played on the other console, and his hard work paid off. He kept his winning position throughout the second leg, securing his first-ever FIFA Major win.
But the majority of the tournament won’t be remembered for its scintillating matches. Games were low scoring with many considering the latest patch to have made the meta far too defensive. Extra-time and penalties were often needed to break the deadlock and with penalties in their current state – akin to a coin flip – it’s a sad way to see a tie decided.
Ollelito won’t mind though; The Swede grew into the tournament and started turning heads on Day Two when he defeated Spencer “Gorilla” Ealing, Niklas “Nraseck” Raseck and Diogo “Diogo” Mendes on the way to the Grand Final. He takes home $50,000 and 2,000 Global Series Points bringing him up to 4th in the Xbox Global Series Rankings, all but securing his place in the end-of-season Global Series Playoffs.
Meanwhile, Umut takes $30,000 and 2,000 Global Series Points. He won the PlayStation final in dramatic fashion when he scored a last minute goal against Fnatic’s Tom Leese, who had until that point been undefeated throughout the tournament.
The Knockouts
Day two began with a game that could be of easily been in a final – Donovan “Tekkz” Hunt vs Niklas “Nraseck” Raseck the winners of the past two FUT Champions Cups. This game started what would become a familiar pattern throughout the knockouts – low scoring and often heading penalties. Luck was on Nraseck’s side, he beat Tekkz and in the quarter-final versus Colombia’s Javier “Janoz” Munoz he again emerged victorious on penalties, before losing to eventual champion Ollelito in the semi-final in a game that also went to penalties.
2018’s FeWC Mosaad “Msdossary” Aldossary had a poor tournament by his standards defeated by Diogo 6-2, in the semi-final. He secures a place next month’s FUT Champions Cup but will feel he has more to do to prove himself on FIFA 20.
One player who will be pleased with his tournament is Tom Leese. He entered the console final undefeated, and after defeating his Hashtag United teammate Harry Hesketh in the quarters, he went through the tournament with his own support.
The Group Stages
The first games of the group stages showed all the players there would be no easy rides here. Nraseck, who won last months FUT Champions Cup, lost his first game to an unknown 15-year-old Brazilian player, going by the name “Phzin,” who was making his first-ever Global Series LAN appearance.
While experienced players like Joksan Redonda and Daniel “Ajax Dani” Hagebeuk’s tournaments were over before they even began after they lost their opening three games.
Diego “CRAZY” Campagnani entered the competition as the highest-ranked PlayStation player in the world but left with just one win. 2018 FIFA eWorld Cup Finalist. Stefano Pinna had a similarly tough time, he needed one win out of his last two games to qualify for the knockouts but with the pressure on he failed to do so.
Competitive FIFA returns next month with not one, but two Majors. First up is the FIFA eClub World Cup on February 7 – February 9, before the world’s best head to Paris, France for FUT Champions Cup Stage 4 on February 21-23.
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