The FIFAe Club World Cup moved into the Online Qualifiers on Thursday and Friday, and the first week of matches was successful from a German perspective.
Just before Christmas, numerous clubs and organisations around the globe started the pre-qualifiers for the FIFAe Club World Cup. The successful teams were allowed to compete in the first match week of the Online Qualifiers on Thursday and Friday. In the “Eastern and Central Europe” zone, two Conferences will be competing.
Each of these Conferences contains three divisions. At the end of the fourth match week, only the strongest teams of the first division will enter the play-offs. The schedule provides for a promotion and relegation system that allows the teams to switch between the divisions – from a German point of view, the opener turned out to be quite successful.
‘TheStrxngeR’ and ‘Denis’ dominant
1. FC Köln prevailed in Division 1 of the first Conference in the double elimination format: Tim ‘TheStrxngeR’ Katnawatos and Denis ‘Denis’ Müller clearly defeated the eSports team of FC Genoa consisting of Gabriel ‘Genoa_Gabry7’ Llaho and Luca ‘SolaarJK’ Vincelli with 3:0 and 4:1. VfL Bochum was out of the race early after defeats against AC Monza and Futbolist.
In Division 2, Hannover 96 was only beaten in the final by FK Austria Wien, who had already eliminated Hertha BSC’s eSports academy in the loser’s bracket. In Division 3, the German organisation IQONIC was also defeated in the final by Reply Totem Esports.
DFB double secures NEO triumph
The first division of the second conference consisted mostly of German teams with FC Schalke 04, RB Leipzig, Borussia Mönchengladbach, FOKUS CLAN and SV Werder Bremen. However, the Swiss organisation Nomen Est Omen (NEO) finished the first week of play on top.
The German eNational team duo of Dylan ‘DullenMIKE’ Neuhausen and Kai ‘Hensoo’ Hense beat Schalke’s Hasan ‘Hasoo19’ Eker and Julius ‘S04Juli’ Kühle 4:2 and 3:1 in the final. The strong ‘Knappen’ had eliminated Leipzig, FOKUS CLAN and Gladbach in turn in the run-up to the final.
In Division Two, VfL Wolfsburg were in the final against PRO2BE ESPORTS, while SpVgg Greuther Fürth had to admit defeat to the Italians in the previous round. Division 3 was the only one without German participation in the final: Borussia Dortmund had to pull out after two defeats, FC Ingolstadt lost to GL17CH (1:3, 0:3) in the semi-final of the loser’s bracket.
