The FUT Champions Cup returned last weekend with a new look and location as experienced esport tournament organisers ELEAGUE brought the competition to Atlanta, USA for the first time ever.
Players from around the world travelled in to face off and create a wonderful three days of competition with the likes of Nicolas 'Nicolas99fc' Villalba, Mossad 'MSdossary' Aldossary and Donovan 'F2Tekkz' Hunt all in attendance. And it was the latter who took home the trophy once again as he continues his season of domination.
Don't worry if you missed the action as Goal is here to catch up you on the five biggest talking points from the weekend.
Tekkz is the first three-time FUT Champions Cup winner
There have never been more tournaments in one season and as a result, we have never seen the level of domination that Tekkz has demonstrated in FIFA 19. Not only did the young Englishman lift the trophy and take home the lion's share of the $100,000 prize pool, but he also made history as the first player to ever win three FUT Champions Cup tournaments.
Tekkz survived the early rounds with a sensational 9-8 win over Lukas 'Sakul' Vonderheide and went through all the way to the final where he defeated Diogo 'Tuga810' Pombo to taste glory once more. The F2 player already had enough Global Series Points to qualify for the eWorld Cup later this year but told Goal that he loves nothing more than going to tournaments and proving himself as the best. With another 1,500 Global Series Points in his pocket, there's little doubt over who the world number one is.
Tuga810 makes a name for himself
Portugese player Tuga810 is a name that even a lot of FIFA fans may not have heard before FUT Champs Atlanta but they will now as he lifted the PlayStation trophy thanks to a shock victory over Nicolas99fc.
Tuga810 went into the tournament as the 26th seed in the PlayStation Global Series Rankings so when he took on the PlayStation number one in Nicolas99, it looked like there would only be one outcome. However, the Portugal man was in fine form and thrashed Nicolas99 6-0 in the console final before putting a valiant effort against Tekkz. Now with important experience under his belt, Tuga810 will be a player all of the PlayStation division should fear.The American Dream didn't come to fruition
With this being the first FUT Champions Cup held in America, all eyes were on the NA players to see if a home-field advantage would pay off. There was plenty of North American talent at the tournament including back-to-back eMLS Series champion Cormac 'Doolsta' Dooley, Ajax's Joey Calabro, New York City's Christopher Holly and Rogue's Nawid 'Goal Machine' Noorzai.
However, it was a disaster as NYC Chris and Luigi 'itsDoofman' Puellowas were the only North Americans who made it through the Swiss Group Stages and both were eliminated in the Round of 16 - itsDoofman was eliminated with an aggregate score 8-10. Still, the tournament experience was undoubtedly invaluable and with ELEAGUE's involvement in FIFA, there are still more America-based tournaments to come.
The curse has been broken
While it has been an incredibly successful year for Tekkz, there has also been a lot of talk about curses surrounding the youngster. Namely, his ability to get through a console semi-final and whether he can defeat a player from the esports organisation Rogue.
Tekkz broke his trophy-drought (it was only a couple of months but for him it was a big deal) earlier this month thanks to the FIFA eClub World Cup, but there were no Rogue players at this tournament. Already in 2019, he has been eliminated from tournaments by Niklas 'NRaseck' Raseck, Goal Machine and MSdossary.
Reigning eWorld Cup champion MSdossary is certainly the one man Tekkz was desperate to rematch and this time was able to prove that he can stand up to every player in the world. In the Xbox final, the Englishman faced an early deficit against MSdossary and came back to win 5-2 in a monumental victory.
Not a triumphant return for Kurt
After a two-month ban for inappropriate behaviour, Kurt Fenech finally returned to FIFA esports competition in Atlanta and the Maltease proved that he is still up to par as he stormed through to the knockouts.
From there he took down Thomas Painter but was eliminated in the quarter-finals by Aloufi 'The Royal' Abdulrahman after his defenders made some unfortunate mistakes - you can imagine how Kurt took that.
And it wouldn't be a Kurt appearance without controversy as he interrupted an interview with FIFA influencer Castro during the stream but the Maltease clarified that he meant nothing malicious with the off-hand comment he made.
