UK esports organisation Futwiz lost the FIFAe World Cup 2023 grand final on penalties following a situation they’ve called ‘a disgrace’.
Their Australian player Mark11 was playing in the final against Team Gullit’s Dutch player Bachoore, when he realised his controller overlay was being shown on the main screen during the penalty shootout.
This meant that his targeting could be seen to all. Mark11 raised his arm several times to let the admins know about the situation, in an effort to alert them and possibly retake the penalties. But he lost 5-4 overall and the decision stood – the penalties weren’t retaken.
Mark11 received the $150,000 second-place prize and Bachoore left with the $300,000 top prize.
“Mark clearly raised this issue three times before penalties started and nothing was done so we get left with the biggest final of the year completely ruined by unnecessary circumstances. [To the event team] Disregarding your own rules is a disgrace.”
Futwiz on FIFAe World Cup 2023 final controversy
Dan, the CEO and co-founder of Futwiz, told Esports News UK: “The players are instructed to raise their hand if there’s an issue and it will be dealt with – but to keep on playing until then (stopping the game results in a disqualification).
“In the 2v2 Club World Cup Semi-Final one of our players’ console was freezing after kick off – he raised his hand and the game was nullified and restarted. The protocol is communicated to the players and they’ve bottled it in the biggest occasion.
“Just to clarify – this is nothing to do with EA, the world finals (for the last time as the partnership is ending) are handed over to FIFAe and the agency they use – ‘The eSports Company’.”
The Futwiz account added in a tweet:
“Stop trying to protect what is a clear issue with a grand final at the FIFAe World Cup 2023, FIFA broadcast team.
“Mark clearly raised this issue three times before penalties started and nothing was done so we get left with the biggest final of the year completely ruined by unnecessary circumstances. Disregarding your own rules is a disgrace.
“We want to also add we have zero issue with Bachoore and Team Gullit, this is not their fault.”
Dan also said the entire crowd could see Mark’s penalties, and that “this isn’t on at all – not the way anyone wants to win or lose”.
Mark11 told the BBC the distraction “mentally affected” him and while he didn’t think his opponent would cheat, isn’t happy with how the organisers handled the situation.
“I didn’t know what to feel because it was too hard a situation to be in,” he said. “Millions of people can see where I’m shooting, I honestly didn’t know what I was doing at that time.”
Winner Bachoore added: “I had no idea that a controller was even on the screen, and I just heard some noises in the background. If I wanted I could look but if I did I would probably be disqualified.”
Community reacts to FIFAe World Cup 2023 finals controversy
The community reacted strongly to the FIFAe World Cup 2023 incident, with many spamming ‘L’ and ‘shame’ in the chat and towards the FIFAe Twitter account.
British FIFA pro player Tom Leese described it as ‘the lowest day in FIFA esports history’.
“I really hope today helps the pro scene long-term, as even without the incident it feels like we are struggling,” Tom added. “Disgraceful what happened, but I hope everyone understands. Bachoore didn’t cheat or use it to his advantage. Congrats champ, enjoy the celebrations.”
Others said that FIFA can’t be described as an esports scene, and that Futwiz were robbed.
British FIFA esports commentator Brandon Smith said it was “such a disappointing ending to what should have been ‘the moment’ of the season”.
“Bachoore’s moment wasn’t as special as it should have been. But also for Mark11, who needed competitive integrity in a $300,000 penalty shootout. It’s sad to see how the season has ended on a sour note, after what was a crazy and unpredictable World finals.”
Futwiz content creator Jamodo said: “People’s once in a lifetime moments, people’s opportunity to win life changing amounts of money on the line. The absolute incompetence we’ve seen and continue to see at times from people to make decisions is continuing to be a reason why people don’t take FIFA esports seriously.”
Pro FIFA player for Burnley, Jack Sharp added: “You’ve got a guy who’s communicating to the refs multiple times that something isn’t right and he’s being ignored? Scandalous.”
FIFA responds to incident
FIFA has published a statement on the FIFAe World Cup 2023 final.
It said: “All players have been informed at the start of the FIFAe World Cup 2023 that if they actively decide themselves to show the input overlay, it might be displayed on broadcast and in the arena. Throughout the entire competition, the feed of the home console was visible on the stream and within the arena. This also included games with the input overlay.
“The same situation occurred during the semi-finals including a penalty shootout and no further concerns have been raised by the players prior to the start of the final. After thorough review of the footage, we can also confirm that no player received a competitive advantage as the opposite team only watched their own screen.
“According to the competition rules, games can only be paused if technical issues occur, which did not take place during the penalty shootout. The final decision has been taken based on review of competition footage, in line with the player terms and conditions, and following detailed briefings about controller and broadcast settings to all players during practice matches.”
Dan of Futwiz responded to FIFA’s statement: “Sadly things were being made up as you went along, nobody wanted to take responsibility and make decisive actions – the admin backing straight down after saying stop a clear example. The controller overlay being shown on the big screen is a technical/production issue – you should be covering it just like content creators do on their own WL streams.
“And Mark didn’t clock [the overlay issue] in the semi-final, he only noticed at the start of the penalty shootout in the final and immediately raised his hand (as instructed).”
FIFA player Ehsan added to FIFA: “The point is that Mark was visibly distracted throughout, and having alerted the refs multiple times at the start of the shootout, the game should have been stopped.”
UK FIFA content creator Harry Hesketh commented:
The fact you say it happened in the semi final is so stupid and irrelevant, it would make sense if he flagged it during or after the shootout in the final. He clearly didn’t realise in the semi or would have flagged it before a pen was took in the semi as he did in the final????…
— Harry Hesketh (@HarryHesketh) July 19, 2023
Tom Leese added that Mark should be due compensation: “He put his hand up to the ref, following protocol, then was ignored as they didn’t want to ruin the viewing experience. Ref should have stopped them taking, restarted game from the pens, easy solution.”
Related article: Futwiz recently finished runners-up at the separate FIFAe Club World Cup 2023
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.
