With record prize money, the Esports World Cup attracts the best FC-24 players in the world. Two Dutch players have now mastered the challenging path to the final round
Four VBL pros competed in the final bracket of DreamHack in Dallas to secure one of the two tickets for the Esports World Cup in Saudi Arabia. In the end, none of them made it. Instead, Team Gullit celebrated twice: with the reigning world champion Manuel Bachoore and Emre Yilmaz, a duo from the Dutch eSports team is also in the field of participants in Riyadh, as is runner-up Mark Zakhary, who received one of the eight invitations to the Esports World Cup in Dallas
VBL shocker Bachoore clearly beats Gültekin
On the way to the double victory, Bachoore in particular proved to be a real VBL terror in Texas. He had already beaten Werder’s Eleftherios Ilias in the preliminary round before winning twice against Umut Gültekin in the final bracket. He outplayed his World Cup predecessor for the first time in the semi-finals of the winners’ bracket – with a clear statement: 5:1 after 90 in-game minutes.
The two then met for a second time in the final of the losers’ bracket, as Bachoore had lost the final of the upper bracket to Yilmaz by 3-4. Although ‘Umut’ was able to make the second exchange of blows a little more balanced, he was ultimately clearly defeated again 3:6.
In the Grand Final, ‘ManuBachoore’ was to get his chance for revenge against his team-mate – and once again made things extremely exciting. Once again, the Dutchmen were separated by just a single goal at the final whistle, but Yilmaz again came out on top, this time winning 5-4. The 2023 eChampions League winners are among the favorites for the title in Riyadh. Remarkably, however, the Dutchman was clearly defeated by the German ‘levyfinn’ in this year’s edition of the premier class
Next chance in Sweden
In addition to Gültekin, RBLZ colleague Anders Vejrgang, Dylan Neuhausen from FOKUS and Cologne’s Denis Müller, who all made it through their group but failed to qualify for the final bracket, must continue to hope for qualification. All other German participants, like Werder’s Ilias, had already been eliminated in the group stage.
However, the next opportunity on the extremely rocky road to the financially lucrative competition in the desert will come in just under two weeks’ time. From June 14 to 16, the next qualifying round for the Esports World Cup will take place at DreamHack Summer in Jönköping, Sweden, where six starting places will be up for grabs. However, not all professionals have to qualify; half of the 16 players will be invited to Saudi Arabia. Vejrgang already seemed to be seeded – but a complete list of participants has not yet been published.
However, the density of professional players makes it clear once again: even if anyone can theoretically take part in the tournament series: No one but the professional gamers has a chance – not even they all get through. Therefore, expensive tickets for a starting place should be avoided