Cape Town player qualifies for FIFAe World Cup IOL REPORTER
COMPETITIVE FIFA player Julio “Beast” Bianchi, from Cape Town, has made history as the first South African ever to qualify for the FIFAe World Cup, set to take place in London next month. He is 23. Bianchi, who is the squad captain for Goliath Gaming, went up against some of the best FIFA players in the West Asia region in this past weekend’s qualifiers. The FIFAe World Cup is an eSports tournament held by FIFA and its presenting partner EA Sports. Each tournament has players competing in games of the latest incarnation of the FIFA football video game series. Bianchi made it through to the grand finals of the qualifiers, where he went head-to-head with FIFA World Cup champion Msdossary, and both players secured a spot to the FIFAe World Cup. Bianchi also won $20 000 (about R286 000) in prize money for finishing in second place. “It feels unreal to know that I’ve qualified to compete in the FIFAe World Cup – the
JULIO ‘Beast’ Bianchi, from Cape Town, has made history as the first South African ever to qualify for the FIFAe World Cup, set to take place in London next month.
biggest event on the FIFA calendar. It’s still sinking in! Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would make it because I’ve had a tough past few weeks with studying and writing fourthyear exams, which have been a big focus for me, and the qualifiers themselves were
unreal – so much excitement and so many surprises in games from world-class contenders,” said Bianchi. He said the support from his family and teammates motivated him. The FIFAe World Cup is the climax of EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Global Series.
