- Entrants battling for a spot in FIFAe Club World Cup qualifying
- Favourites hit the ground running, newcomers catch the eye
- First week of qualifying in review
Zones 3, 4 and 5 of FIFAe Club World Cup™ qualifying played their opening matchday on 17 and 18 December, and it was not only the top teams who impressed, with plenty of unheralded outsiders also performing well. Here is an overview of those three zones and their various conferences. Zones 1 and 2 meanwhile will kick off their FIFAe Club World Cup 2021 qualifying campaigns in January.
All results are available on FIFA.gg.
Zone 3
Saudi Arabian outfit Tuwaiq eSports Club currently top a tightly-contested conference, having emerged as the best team in the first division after the opening matchday.
In Division 2, ASMR esports were the pick of the crop, winning the opening round.
Zone 4
Of the teams leading their respective first divisions, VFL Bochum, McDonald’s Riders, Team Vitality, NEO, Olympique Lyonnais and AFC Ajax are all past participants at the FIFAe Club World Cup. RBLZ and NEO meanwhile are currently yet to lose a game.
Red-hot favourites Fnatic certainly impressed in a number of their matches but ended up losing a tight one to McDonald’s Riders in the final match of Conference 2.
Record FIFAe Club World Cup winners Brondby were again front and centre, with only Team Gullit getting the better of them in Conference 5. The Danes will nevertheless be confident of making it a record four appearances at the main event.
Astralis led the way in Conference 14 with their high-quality line-up featuring past FIFAe Club World Cup winner ‘Ustun’ and 2016 FIFA World Champion August Rosenmeier – a combination of that calibre will certainly be tough to beat over the coming matchdays.
Esport newcomers Borussia Dortmund starred in the third level of Conference 2 and secured promotion to Division 2 in the process.
Zone 5
FC Basel are looking to qualify for their third FIFAe Club World Cup and laid down a marker in the opening week, finishing as best team in the first division in Conference 1. Newly-created Inter eSports also showed their potential, losing just one game overall.
Both Wolves eSports and Ronaldinho’s R10 were among the favourites to begin with, but struggled to emerge from what was a tough field. Nevertheless, they picked up what will doubtless be valuable points in the quest for qualification and will be looking to up their game when the next matchdays come around in the New Year.
Zone 6
Reigning FIFAe Club World Cup holders Complexity Gaming have retained their title-winning line-up, but they came up short against KRU esports and then fell to Ajax esports in the loser’s bracket. Kun Aguero’s recently-formed KRU outfit on the other hand racked up the wins and were crowned as best team in the first division in Zone 6.