The 31-year-old content creator Edwin “Castro1021” Castro is dedicated to the football simulation FIFA on Twitch and YouTube. In March, he founded his own team in 7-a-side football. However, the team’s first major tournament ended quickly after an alleged racist incident.
What kind of team is this? Edwin “Castro1021” is one of the biggest FIFA streamers in the world (via sullygnome). At the end of March 2023, he announced that he wanted to participate with his own team in The Soccer Tournament. The TST is a 7-a-side tournament with a prize pool of 1 million US dollars for the winner.
For the streamer, it was “like FIFA in real life” – just probably with fewer packs. However, in the game, it is quite rare that one is eliminated from a tournament due to a player’s misconduct.
Opponent reportedly leaves the field after racist incident
What was the incident? After a disappointing 3–1 in the opening match, Dallas United faced West Ham United F.C. on June 1.
Castro’s team was in the lead when there was a longer interruption, after which West Ham left the field together and the match was abandoned. The trigger was allegedly a racist insult by a player from Dallas United against an opposing player.
It is unclear what exactly was said, however, the Daily Mail reports that a Black West Ham player was insulted with the N-word. In a video, Anton Ferdinand from West Ham appears to be telling the referee that he wants to set a precedent.
The official Twitter account of the TST soon released a statement stating that they had conducted an investigation into the last moments of the game and found that Dallas United had violated the code of conduct.
Furthermore, they spoke with the responsible parties from both clubs and agreed that the best solution would be for Dallas United to withdraw from the tournament: “All parties involved agree that they want to send a signal against racist discrimination.”
Castro has not yet commented on his team’s elimination. Through the club’s Twitter account, they announced that an internal investigation had been initiated and a statement would be released in the near future (via Twitter).
In April, Castro himself was banned from Twitch after he claimed that Dallas United was better than Manchester City. However, the real reason for the ban is said to have been different. Although the Twitch channel is back online now, the streamer has not broadcast since his unbanning stream.
