SINGAPORE - Teenager Donovan "F2Tekkz" Hunt swept to victory in the Fifa Ultimate Team (FUT) Champions Cup in Singapore on Sunday (March 10), cementing his status as the best Fifa gamer in the world.
The 17-year-old thumped Fatih "M10Ustun" Ustun 6-2 on aggregate in the two-leg grand final held at Zepp @ BigBox to take home US$50,000 (S$67,950) in prize money.
Hunt is putting together an unprecedented stretch of dominance on the football simulation game's professional circuit.
He has now won three out of five FUT Champions Cups so far this season, after the Atlanta leg last month and the Bucharest leg in November. It was also his third win in as many tournaments in the last month.
"It feels good for sure to go back-to-back-to-back," said the English lad, who has amassed US$200,000 in prize money in just a year. "I can't wait for the next tournament, let's go man."
The Singapore leg is the fifth of six top-tier Champions Cups in the Fifa 19 Global Series leading up to the showpiece Fifa eWorld Cup in July. The event was jointly presented by PGL and eGG Network.
Hunt had advanced to the cross-console grand final as the champion for the Xbox One category, with Ustun coming out tops in the Playstation 4 bracket after three days of play from Friday that featured 64 top players.
In the Fifa Ultimate Team mode used for the tournament, players assemble their teams with the virtual versions of the best football players past and present. Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo features on nearly every gamer's team, for example.
The first leg - played on the Playstation 4 - began as a tight affair with neither player getting on the scoresheet in the first half. But Hunt proceeded to stamp his class in the second half with three goals in rapid succession, the second through a curling shot from outside the box by French star Kylian Mbappe.
Ustun, who plays for the e-sports team owned by Arsenal player Mesut Ozil, looked to be down and out but capitalised on a rare lapse of concentration from Hunt to score two late goals, leaving the latter shaking his head in frustration.
It was all Hunt in the second leg, however, on his preferred Xbox One console. Ustun had scored 57 goals in nine matches before the grand final, but Hunt limited his 19-year-old opponent to just one shot the whole match in a comfortable 3-0 win,
Hunt's flawless performance led fellow Fifa pro Ivan "BorasLegend" Lapanje to comment on Twitter that he had never seen a more complete Fifa player.
"World's best defender, world's best attacker, world's best mentality - simply the ultimate Fifa player. And he is only 17," wrote the Swede.
The grand final was watched live by around 300 spectators. Among them were students and friends Tawfiq Andy Prawito Pereira, Hasyir Yahya and Hidayat Yusof, all 17, who had made the trip down from Bedok to Jurong East to catch the action.
"Tekkz is my favourite Fifa player. I've been following him since he first started out last year so I'm very happy to see him doing so well," said Hasyir, who is the keenest Fifa player among the trio.
"This is our first time watching the best of the best play live and it was a great experience. We hope that there will be more such e-sports events held in Singapore in the future."
