The finals of the FIFA 23 electronic world championship were overshadowed by a substantial scandal. After the last major tournament in the FIFA series, there were suspicions of bias against a participant. Specifically, the screen transmission of the penalty shootout led to discontent from one finalist.
What happened? In the final of the FIFAe World Cup 2023 (FeWC), the Dutch player “ManuBachoore” faced off against the Australian “Mark11”. The exciting final was only decided in a penalty shootout. In the process, Mark11 felt cheated by a controller displayed on the screen and ultimately lost the final.
In retrospect, there were minutes of discussion, but the winner was undeniably established. Why the Australian felt disadvantaged and what the winner had to say about his debatable victory can be read here.
Screens showed how the finalist would take his shots
Every FIFA gamer knows the problem during penalty shootouts. Especially when playing with another player on a monitor. The temptation to look at the other controller during the run-up to guess where the penalty kick will be placed is very high. To prevent this, it is best to turn away from the opponent and block the view with your whole body.
However, in the World Championship final of 2023 in FIFAe, this tactic was futile. Both players sat in their own areas that protected them from the opponent’s view. Nevertheless, there were accusations of cheating.
Why are there accusations? The reason for this was the numerous screens in the hall that aimed to deliver the best possible broadcast quality to the audience. The monitors did not only display the game action during the penalty shootout but also documented where the penalties were being shot. However, this was only the case for one of the two finalists.
Why did the monitors display Mark11’s key inputs? The FeWC is the highlight for all pro-gamers in the FIFA year. But not only elite players attend the event. Numerous fans on-site and even more watching the live streams at home closely follow the happenings and hope to learn some tricks from the pros.
To make the gameplay even more illustrative and understandable, the monitors display small controller images in a corner of the broadcast screens showing which buttons are currently being pressed by the players.
During regular time, this function had no impact on the finalists’ game. However, during the penalty shootout, the add-on should have been disabled for both players to avoid predicting the opponent’s shots. To Mark11’s surprise, his key inputs remained visible to everyone.
Relevant to the topic: In the successor to FIFA, FC24, you have even more options to place your penalties. This is just one of many innovations in EA Sports FC24. Check out the deep-dive gameplay trailer to learn more about the game mechanics.
How did Mark11 react? Right after the first few shots, Mark11 complained that his inputs were visible. However, the referees did not respond to his complaints. He missed the first two penalty kicks, but then clawed his way back with two saved penalties. Ultimately, the Australian missed his third penalty in sudden death, and ManuBachoore took the title of FIFAe World Champion 2023.
After the end of the match, discussions continued, but this changed nothing about the result.
In the tweet from JakeSucky, you can clearly see Mark11’s agitation.
What did ManuBachoore say about the incident? The Dutch player insisted after the final in an interview with kicker eSport that he did not play unfairly, and he did not even see the controller animations on the broadcast screen. ManuBachoore further stated: “(…) If I had cheated, I would have handed him the trophy immediately.”
The winner couldn’t help but deliver a little jab to his opponent. He said that it was not a scandal how the penalty shootout proceeded, but it would have been one if the penalties had been repeated and Mark11 had won.
And how did the organizer react? After the accusations, the organizer FIFAe also released a statement on Twitter. In it, they distanced themselves from the cheating allegations and pointed out that before the tournament, all participants were personally asked whether they wanted to activate the controller add-on. Thus, there had already been a penalty shootout in the semifinals where the controller animations were visible on the screens without anyone complaining.
After reviewing the footage, they concluded that there was no unfair behavior, as ManuBachoore only looked at his own screen. Combined with the prior agreements and explanations about the continuous screen transmission, there was no reason to annul the penalty shootout.
After tempers had calmed down a bit, Mark11 also found conciliatory final words in the kicker eSport interview: “(…) But it is what it is. I am among the top 2 in the world. I will try to enjoy this in the coming days.”
Next year, Mark11 will certainly have another chance at the title. We still have to wait a little longer until the final of the World Championship in EA Sports FC 24.
The release of the new football simulation is getting closer. Check out our forecast for the best players in FC24.
