The eFootball esports team of English Premier League Football Club Manchester United have won the eFootball Championship Pro 2023.
After several months of competitive action, the eFootball Championship Pro is over for another year, with United claiming the 2023 title.
This year, the tournament returned to the offline format, as its eight clubs jetted to Barcelona, Spain, for a return to the in-person format. This was the first time the competition ran offline in three years.
The Results of the eFootball Championship Pro 2023
Seven weeks of regular league action provided a group stage table and a top six that would ultimately progress to the knockout stage.
Thanks to their first and second place finishes respectively, FC Barcelona and Manchester United entered the semi finals automatically, with two quarter finals to decide who would face them:
- FC Bayern München (fourth) vs AS Roma (fifth)
- Arsenal FC (third) vs AC Milan (sixth)
FC Bayern Münich (2-0) and AC Milan (2-0) would go on to win their fixtures to set up the semi finals:
- FC Barcelona v FC Bayern Münich
- Manchester United v AC Milan
In two spirited match-ups, Manchester United (2-1) progressed to the final whilst FC Bayern Münich managed to edge FC Barcelona 2-1 to set up an exciting conclusion to the tournament.
In the final itself, former MVP and 2022 champion Nekza overpowered FCB_Mestre 0-2 before FCB_Jose and Kilzyou were held to a goalless draw, leading to a penalty shootout, which was won by Kilzyou 4-2.
With a 2-0 overall result in the best-of-three, Manchester United lifted the eFootball Championship Pro trophy.
“Obviously I am absolutely delighted for the boys. They worked so hard all year and have been fantastic ambassadors for our club. They performed at an incredible standard and myself and the club are extremely proud of them.”
Scott Martin, Manchester United eFootball manager
The Knockout Stage brought together eFootball fans from across the world as the live stream on the eFootball YouTube channel reached over 2.6m viewers in total.
For a full breakdown of the day’s results see the eFootball Pro knockout stage report on the eFootball website.
Lotfi, Manchester United’s captain, commented: “Firstly, we would like to dedicate this to the club because it’s the club’s victory, not just ours. We also dedicate it to our manager, Scott, and all the people at the club who supported us throughout. Even when we were seventh in the league table after Matchday three, I had never seen this kind of support before. They helped us tremendously in critical moments, and without them, winning this title would have been impossible. It’s not just a matter of skill level: they did a lot for us, helping us improve our mentality in many aspects.”
Scott Martin, Manchester United’s manager, also commented on winning the eFootball Championship Pro 2023: “Obviously I am absolutely delighted for the boys. They worked so hard all year and have been fantastic ambassadors for our club. They performed at an incredible standard. Despite facing setbacks midway through the season, they regrouped, showed fantastic mentality, and especially in the past few matchdays, they refused to be beaten. Myself and the club are extremely proud of them.”
eFootball Championship Open World Finals on the horizon
10 players from the eFootball Championship Pro 2023 will also be competing in the eFootball Championship Open 2023 World Finals next month. The event will take place on the weekend of July 22nd and 23rd in Ginza, Tokyo.
The tournament will see the best eFootball players from around the world compete across Playstation and Mobile categories, all in the pursuit of taking the individual crown as eFootball Championship Open Winner.
The news comes after Man United rivals Man City announced esports partnerships with Gen.G and Challengermode.
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.
