This past weekend, the 128 best FIFA players in the world dueled for a place at the FIFAe World Cup. However, one player fell victim to a debatable exclusion.
The FIFAe World Cup play-offs brought the world’s best FIFA players together in London last weekend to determine the 32 finalists. Everything from commanding marches through to dramatic deciding matches were on offer.
Only one of the 128 participants had to give up on Sunday without having picked up a controller on the decisive day. Norway’s Benjamin ‘KongBenjamin’ Gjerlow was eliminated from the event in the wake of a positive SARS-CoV-2 antigen test. A decision that at first glance seems understandable for safety reasons, but at second glance raises many questions.
Failure to provide alternative participation
For one thing, as EA SPORTS seemingly provided no way to let the Scandinavian compete anyway: “No restrictions anywhere else and they don’t offer a solution like a segregated room where I can play my matches,” the 19-year-old tweeted, noticeably frustrated.
An omission Simen Henriksen, co-owner of Gjerlow’s eSports team ‘Apeks’ addressed as well: “Other eSports tournaments provide an isolated area or a separated room for the player to play the rest of their matches.”
Further testing to confirm the antigen result also did not seem possible. “We are currently working on getting a verified PCR test done so that he canpossibly participate in the event,” ‘Apeks’ let slip on Twitter in the meantime. A patently unsuccessful endeavour.
Did other players fail to take part in other tests?
But Henriksen was particularly disturbed by what he saw as the disproportionate treatment of his protégé’s rivals. “This playeris selected for a random test, tested positive and then thrown out of the tournament. The other remaining players in the play-offs, who might be equally positive, are not tested. I’m speechless, what a joke,” he raged after ‘KongBenjamin’ qualified for Sunday’s final matches in the previous days – and came into contact with other players.
Meanwhile, the fact that the organiser did not inform viewers in any way about what had happened to ‘KongBenjamin’ also caused displeasure among some users. “The only information about the Norwegian was that he had been eliminated. According to our information, players did not learn about the test result either.
So the COVID concept and the communication of the incident leave some questions unanswered. EA SPORTS has so far left our enquiries unanswered. We will provide any statements later.
Gjerlow pauses and plans big things
But the concerned Gjerlow spoke out again with a more detailed statement explaining his excitement. “All year I have done everything in my power to play on the biggest stage against the best players. That dream has been snatched away from me.” Reason enough for the Norwegian to take a break for the time being: “I’m going to take a break from Twitter and FIFA for a while.”
He did not say how long it would be. But he still has his sights firmly set on his big goal of participating in the World Cup. “I promise you, you’ll see me at the FIFA 23 World Cup,” ‘KongBenjamin’ announced.