28 March 2023 – The SAFA eCup finished with a bang as Zaid April was crowned champion on FIFA23 in Johannesburg on Saturday.
The competition is part of the global FIFAe Nations Series 2023 where FIFA member associations select their national teams to qualify to the nation vs nation finals in June 2023, and the South Africa Football Association (SAFA) has been participating since 2019.
The SAFA eCup 2023 started on 4 February 2023 with two online qualifiers culminating with the best 16 FIFA23 players and FIFA rankings in South Africa battling it out. The Grand Finals started with four groups of four with Kaylan Moodley (Africa’s No1), Thabo Moloi, Julio Bianchi, April, all from Goliath Gaming, and Ubaid Mahomed, Aqil Sampath and the Orlando Pirates duo of Aidan Bouah and Riaasat Ebrahim making the quarterfinals.
April made the finals by dispatching his team-mate Thabo Moloi to face Moodley and win the crown without losing a match.
An elated April said: “I am happy to have won the tournament unbeaten as the competition was tough against my team-mates at Goliath Gaming and in the national team. We know each other very well and on the day anyone can win it, but I am happy that my performance was good at the right times during the tournament.” The new SAFA eCup champion retains his spot in the national team for 2023 and the side will be competing in the FIFAe Nations Online Qualifiers on 13 April 2023 in the Africa-Middle-East region, joining Ghana, Morocco, Egypt and Kenya as African representatives in the FIFA23 Playstation competition.
“We are encouraged by the 361 players that registered at the beginning of our campaign last year and believe that gaming is getting us closer to our youth. The SAFA eCup is the channel for football and gaming enthusiasts who aspire to play amongst the best in the world on the FIFA game. As members of FIFA we relish this opportunity to offer South African youth a chance to participate in this global competition. We wish the 2023 team all the best as they begin their qualifiers next month,” SAFA COO Lydia Monyepao said.
More information on the gaming activities is available on the SAFA Gaming website www.safa.gg and you can join our database to follow our events .