The Regional Qualifiers have caused a big cut in FC Pro. For quite a few eSports players, the World Championship dream in FC 24 has been shattered. Or is it? Which backdoors and options does the season still hold?
The failure in the Regionals has shocked many players. Mustafa ‘xMusti19’ Cankal, for example, reported feeling “bad” afterwards: “I’ve never had anything like this before,” the FOKUS pro wrote on X (formerly Twitter). A photo shows himself with reddened eyes. The fate of the former St. Paulian was shared by a whopping 244 Qualifier participants in the Europe East region alone. “The season is already over in October,” said Cankal’s teammate Dylan ‘DullenMIKE’ Neuhausen. But is that true?
For eSports players without a club, it may seem so – especially with the World Cup in mind. However, EA SPORTS has integrated some options for the next months in FC Pro. Furthermore, there is the backdoor via the national leagues. In these, 28 of the 32 places for the FC Pro World Championship in the summer of 2024 will be awarded. But what good is that to players who are under contract with non-eligible organizations? I guess that depends a lot on the organization or agency in question.
At the moment, the squads of the 35 clubs for the upcoming season in the Club Championship have not yet been announced on the homepage of the Virtual Bundesliga (VBL). Internally, however, the registration deadline has already been October 15. However, there is a late registration window during the current season in which each club can still register a maximum of two new eSports players. Insofar as all parties involved agree. Free agents should find this easier. What other alternatives do clubless eSports players have?
Regional Cups as financial parachutes
From a financial perspective at least, EA SPORTS has smaller parachutes planned. Who misses the jump in the FC Pro Global Qualifier or the FC Pro Open, can participate again in the Open Ladder from November. These lead to two FC Pro Open Regional Cups at the end of the year, each of which is endowed with 33,500 US dollars in prize money in Europe. However, a World Championship ticket can no longer be won via this route. The developer has also restricted community tournaments like the Blacki Cup in FC 24.
The competitive options are thus limited, but available. For the 64 players who actually qualified for the Global Qualifier or were invited, the competition continues on November 10. Then the Swiss rounds are scheduled first. The following weekend, the double elimination system will determine 16 players who will advance to the four wildcards – into the FC Pro Open. Where the four World Championship tickets will then be played out over more than two months in the new eSports ecosystem.
