The competition is part of the global FIFAe Nations Series 2023 where FIFA member associations select their national teams to qualify for the nation vs nation finals in June 2023 and the South Africa Football Association has been participating since 2019.
The SAFA eCup 2023 started on the 4th of February with 2 online qualifiers, culminating in the 16 best FIFA23 players from the qualifiers and FIFA rankings. The Grand Finals started with 4 groups of 4 with Africa’s No 1; Kaylan Moodley, leading the pack. Thabo Moloi, Julio Bianchi, Zaid April, from Goliath Gaming, Ubaid Mahomed, Aqil Sampath, from Orlando Pirates, and duo Aidan Bouah and Riaasat Ebrahim made the quarter finals. Zaid made it to the finals by dispatching his team mate Thabo and won the crown, without losing a match to Kaylan.
An elated Zaid said; “I am happy to have won the tournament unbeaten as the competition was tough against my team mates at Goliath Gaming and the national team. We know each other very well and on the day anyone can win it but I am happy that my performance was good at the right times during the tournament.” The new SAFA eCup champion retains his spot in the national team for 2023. The team will soon be competing in the FIFAe Nations Online Qualifiers on the 13th of April in the Africa-Middle-East region joining Ghana, Morocco, Egypt and Kenya as African representatives in the FIFA23 Playstation competition.
“We are encouraged by the 361 players that registered at the beginning of our campaign last year and believe that gaming is getting us closer to our youth. The SAFA eCup is the channel for football and gaming enthusiasts who aspire to play amongst the best in the world on the FIFA game. As members of FIFA we relish in this opportunity to offer South African youth a chance to participate in this global competition and wish the 2023 team all the best as they begin their qualifiers next month.” – SAFA COO Lydia Monyepao.
News and all information is available on the SAFA Gaming website and you can join the database to follow the events.