Thrilling matches and a beaming winner at the first FIFA Museum eCup

The FIFA 20 tournament at the FIFA World Football Museum was won by Arton Arifi. The Swiss triumphed under the watchful gaze of Luca Boller, the captain of the Swiss eFootball national team, and lifted the FIFA Museum eCup. After four qualifying tournaments, the winner of the FIFA 20 tournament was crowned at the FIFA World Football Museum last Sunday, with Arton Arifi lifting the inaugural FIFA Museum eCup on the back of impressive performances throughout qualifying and in the final tournament. “I always believed I could win it, but of course you never know how the games will play out. I also had a few slices of luck today,” said Arifi after winning the main prize, an exclusive trip to one of the next FIFA eFootball tournaments. Over the past few weeks, FIFA players from the Zurich region were joined by players from as far afield as Manchester for some thrilling matches and entertaining eFootball action at the FIFA museum. New museum ambassador Luca Boller was of course on hand to watch the final day unfold. Two brothers play for the win The final day began with a kids’ tournament, giving youngsters between the ages of six and 15 the chance to show what they could do on the console. The final pitted two brothers against each other, but fortunately the main prize on offer – an exclusive FIFA 20 workshop with Luca Boller, the captain of the Swiss eFootball national team – was for two persons, which no doubt helped to keep the peace back home. Boller then held a meet-and-greet session with the kids, where instead of autographs or pictures most kids were more interested in playing against the national team player for a minute or two. Eight Finalists go toe to toe Then the main event got under way, with the eight finalists going toe to toe from the very start. At the end of the group phase, eight had become four with the following semi-final match-ups: Arton Arifi v. Josip Uzelac Michael Nahm v. Salvatore Cardinale

Both semi-finals ended in 6-1 victories for Arton Arifi and Michael Nahm respectively. The play-off for third place saw Salvatore Cardinale edge past Josip Uzelac 4-3 after extra time. Sweet victory at last The tension was palpable as the top two players prepared to go head to head in the two-legged final. The first game ended in a clear 4-1 win for Arifi, who kept his foot on the pedal in the second match too, eventually claiming a 7-3 aggregate victory to leave the virtual pitch triumphant. Arifi had claimed his place in the final tournament by finishing second in a qualifying tournament on 9 August 2020, but this time he went one better by coming out on top. He was clearly delighted with his win: “I have finished second a lot in recent tournaments, so that makes this victory all the sweeter.” At the end of a thrilling day of eFootball action at the FIFA museum in Zurich, all that was left to do was for Luca Boller, an eFootball professional at FC Basel, to present the trophies to the top three players.