This weekend saw the esports arm of English Premier League club Man City win the 2023/24 ePremier League, having beaten Brighton in the final.
British player Donovan ‘Tekkz’ Hunt, who joined Man City late last year, and Argentine player Matias Bonanno lifted the trophy on Sunday evening.
In doing so, Man City have become the first club to win the ePremier League twice, following former Man City player Shellzz winning the 2020/21 ePremier League on penalties three years ago.
City have also now qualified for the eChampions League and the eWorld Championships in EA FC 24, while Brighton have earned a position in the eChampions League too.
A dramatic extra-time goal secured the victory for City as they beat Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 on aggregate in the final. City won £30,000 for winning (£15,000 per player), while Brighton received £15,000 (£7,500 per player).
Tekkz told host Frankie Ward after the win: “Ive not won for so long. Every time I feel like I’m getting closer and closer. When that second leg should’ve been 3-0 or 4-0, I was like, wow, I’m never gonna win again! But me and Matty [Matias Bonanno] won, and I’m buzzing.”
Bonanno added: “It’s amazing. I’m really, really happy to win the ePremier League.”
Both players have won several tournaments over the years, with Bonanno also having won the eLaLiga and eLibertadores, making him the first player to win three different eLeagues. Tekkz has also won the first ePremier League, for Liverpool, back in 2019.
It was a painful moment for Brighton’s Scottish players Marc Marley and Jayden Groden, as the late winning goal from City came from a coming together of defenders in the box, that the Brighton gamers couldn’t seemingly do much about.
Marc Marley said after the defeat: “We were so close man, I shot the wrong way in the 90th minute.
“I’m twice runner up in this competition lol. So so so proud of the guys [Jayden Groden, Yesse Frijters and Adam Ryan], we worked so hard for this, it’s just gutting. Congrats to the City guys – they deserved it over the two legs.”
Premier League Chief Commercial Officer Will Brass said: “Congratulations to Tekkz, Matias and Manchester City on winning the 2023/24 ePremier League title. After being crowned our inaugural ePL Champion in 2019, Tekkz has now become the first player to win the title twice, doing so with two clubs in two different formats.
“We have seen exciting action throughout this year’s tournament and particularly in the final stages, which were packed with drama. We introduced a new format to this year’s finals, which took place over two full weekends to give more fans around the world the opportunity to watch gamers representing their favourite Premier League clubs in a competitive tournament.
“Many thanks to EA Sports FC for their continued support, enabling us to grow the tournament year-onyear, and to our broadcast partners who once again brought the excitement to a global audience. The ePremier League will continue to evolve each season and we are already looking forward to next year’s instalment.”
The news comes after the ePremier League 2024 players were confirmed back in January, with some of the UK’s best players taking part.
This time last year, Leeds beat Spurs in the ePremier League 2022-23 final.
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.
