Image credit: Joosep Martinson – FIFA
UK-based esports organisation Guild were on the brink of something special this weekend as they reached two grand finals, but fell at the final hurdle.
FIFAe World Cup 2022: Guild’s nicolas99fc loses on penalties in agonisingly close final
In esports, as in sport, often the finest of margins can separate two great players or teams.
That was the case this evening for Guild Esports’ Argentinian FIFA player Nicolas ‘Nicolas99fc’ Villalba, who lost 5-4 on penalties in the grand final of the FIFAe World Cup 2022 to Germany’s Umut ‘Umut’ Gültekin after a match scoreline of 0-0.
Regardless of the loss in the final, Nicolas still walks away with $100,000 (with $250,000 going to Umut), and it comes after Nicolas99fc won the FIFA eChampions League a couple of months ago.
UK players Stingray and Tekkz finished 9th-16th and 25th-28th respectively.
“Congratulations to Umut for winning the FIFAe World Cup and ultimately – faming his game on the biggest stage,” said Nick Brown, director of commercial partnerships at FIFA.
“The dedication throughout the season allowed him to turn his dream into reality and writing his name into the history books of the FIFAe universe will surely be a memory he will never forget.”
“It’s crazy, I dreamed so long about this moment and I can’t believe it”, said the new world champion Umut. “We have the strongest nation [in FIFAe]. Next year, one of us will win [again].”
The conclusion of the FIFAe World Cup 2022 brings the end of the first week of the FIFAe Finals 2022 in Copenhagen. All three major events – the FIFAe World Cup, the FIFAe Club World Cup and the FIFAe Nations Cup – will be played over three consecutive weeks in Copenhagen.
Looking at the two remaining tournaments, England have been drawn against Scotland in the FIFAe Nations Cup, and the Club World Cup includes players from UK orgs like Excel, Fnatic and SAF.
Gamers8 2022: Guild fall to Furia in final of $2m Rocket League tournament
Guild Esports’ grand final loss in this weekend’s Gamers8 Gamers Without Borders Rocket League tournament in Saudi Arabia wasn’t as close as the FIFA final, but it’s an achievement nonetheless for Guild, who were up against 23 other teams in this competition and proved they were deserving of being in the final.
They lost 4-0 in the grand final to Furia, but Guild had a great run before that, with sweeps over the likes of Luminosity, 01 and FaZe Clan.
The news comes after Moist Esports declined to play at Saudi’s GWB Rocket League event, with UK coach Noah vowing “not to associate with a country that doesn’t recognise LGBTQ+ people as human beings”.
A few weeks ago, Moist Esports – a US org with some UK players – had won the Rocket League 2022 London Major.
Guild knocked out of Valorant VCT Masters Stage 2 LAN
Guild were also knocked out of another tournament this weekend – the 2022 Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Stage 2 Masters in Copenhagen.
They lost 2-0 to Paper Rex in the upper quarter finals before being beaten 2-1 by FunPlus Phoenix, who, along with Fnatic, qualified for Valorant Champions 2022, the pinnacle of Valorant esports.
On the overall weekend, Kal Hourd, CEO of Guild Esports, said: “We’re incredibly proud of all our teams, from the players to the support staff, and they deserve every success they get. Guild is building something unique to change the game in the world of esports – and these results are just the beginning of showing how our model breeds success, and others should be ready to follow suit.”
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
