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England’s Spencer “GORILLA” Ealing was crowned the new FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC) Champion last evening, after beating Germany’s Kai “DETO” Wollin in the Grand Final event at the Central Hall Westminster, London, with a score of 7-3 on aggregate.
Spencer was presented with his trophy by 1988 European Champion and Dutch football legend Ruud Gullit, one of the EA SPORTS FIFA franchise’s most popular players and also part of Spencer’s winning squad. The Englishman also received a cheque for USD $200,000 and an invitation to attend FIFA’s annual awards ceremony The Best FIFA Football Awards in London on October 23.
Armed with the reputation as the best attacker in the history of FIFA, Spencer dominated the day to win England its first ever taste of gold-medal glory at the FIWC since 2005. The Englishman scored 46 goals over three days to win the world title. In a nail-biting final match Kai accumulated a 3-1 lead, but Spencer forced his way back, to ensure a 3-3 draw at the end of the PlayStation Leg.
During the XBox leg, Spencer asserted his authority on his preferred console, racing into a two goal advantage before the interval. Despite a remarkable display of resilience from Kai, the Englishman (coached by Sean Allen who came second in last year’s FIWC Grand Final) created history and sealed a 7-3 aggregate victory in a match which saw the virtual Ruud Gullit score a crucial goal of the match, while the real Gullit sat in the audience watching with enthusiasm.
“It’s absolutely unbelievable to have won this tournament. I think that to have won something of this magnitude is something that will change my life forever. Obviously the prize money is huge but for me it’s not about that, it’s about being the FIWC Champion and representing all of the people who have supported me to reach this point.” said Spencer.
Over 7 million players over the course of an almost-year-long season attempted to qualify for the FIWC Grand Final but ultimately only one player was left holding the world trophy, local boy Spencer. Speaking about Spencer’s win Ruud Gullit said, “This has been a brilliant event for me to see the dedication and commitment that it takes to reach this level in eSports. For former players like myself, it’s very interesting to see ourselves in these games and to see how the gamers try to harness my style of play. As a football pundit whose job is to analyse matches, I saw how players are learning about strategies and tactics, and vice versa, through the FIFA series.”
The 2017 Grand Final is the thirteenth edition of the tournament. Over three days 32 of the best FIFA players in the world took part in group stages, quarter, semifinals and finals on both PlayStation and XBox, culminating in the Grand Final between the two divisional champions.
Following the event FIFA’s Director of Marketing Services Jean Francois Pathy said, “The FIWC is a phenomenal competition for FIFA as we can truly engage with a young, passionate and dynamic audience. It’s exciting for FIFA to play a leading role in developing the world of eSports and competitive gaming. We are looking forward to working with our partner EA SPORTS and the FIFA community to make our competition even bigger and better.”
The FIWC is an annual tournament organised by FIFA in cooperation with EA SPORTS. It is an official FIFA Tournament and the player crowned champion is considered by FIFA to be football’s virtual world champion. The tournament is hosted on the PlayStation and XBox networks and can be accessed via EA SPORTS FIFA 17. It has held a place in the Guinness Book of Records since 2010 as the largest gaming tournament in the world.
