The first FK Lielupe FIFA20 tournament was held

FK Lielupe #StayAtHome FIFA20 tournament on PlayStation4 console took place from Friday to Sunday.

The tournament was held in three stages: a group tournament was played on Friday, 1/8 and 1/4 finals were played on Saturday, and the final tournament games were played on Sunday. 29 participants took part in the tournament. It was possible to follow the Play-off stage games, as well as the final on Twitch platform. Artūrs Rudzītis and Maksims Bočarņikovs were the best representatives of FK Lielupe – both withdrew in the 1/4 final stage. But the winner of the tournament is Mārcis Brīvulis (YungSauce88).

The winner of FK Lielupe #StayAtHome FIFA20 tournament – Mārcis Brīvulis

Mārcis, congratulations on the title of champion! How did you find out about this tournament?
I found it on Facebook.
How is the level of opponents assessed? And which was the hardest game in this tournament?
The level of opponents in the tournament was quite good. Of course, there was some weaker, but in general everyone was strong. In my opinion, the hardest game was 1/2 first game.
How often you play FIFA20?
I play FIFA20 almost every day.
Are you involved in football outside of virtual reality?
I don’t play football, but I am very interested in what is going on in it.
How else do you spend time during this emergency situation?
The mostly I play Playstation, because it is not really allowed to go outside the home.

On behalf of FK Lielupe, this tournament was organized by its President Kārlis Villerušs, Vice-President Marija Voronova and board member Maksims Bočarņikovs. We asked everyone about their impressions.

Kārlis, how did you get the idea to create a tournament?
Seeing the situation in the country as well as in the world, we could not miss the call #StayAtHome. We believe that it is very important to follow the rules of self-isolation so that we can all return to normal life as soon as possible. At the regular board meeting, we discussed ideas on how to keep in touch between the players as well as with our followers on social networks. That’s how we came up with the idea of organizing a FIFA20 tournament. What we were able to organize in a short period of time.
How did you manage to attract so many participants?
It doesn’t take much to attract interested people to compete with each other in FIFA20 skills. The tournament was attended by several players of our team, as well as their friends, as well as those who found our advertising on social networks, all this led to 29 participants. If the application time was longer, I think the number of participants would be even higher.
Were there some difficulties during the tournament, because of its online format? Or everything went well?
There were some technical problems during the tournament, especially with the connection, but mostly all the problems could be solved quickly. This was our first experience at this type of event, it definitely can be counted as positive and this experience will be very valuable in organizing similar tournaments in the future.
Do you plan to hold such tournaments in the future?
We have consulted with Marija and Maksims and came to the conclusion that we will definitely have to organize similar tournaments. Now we will follow the news and the situation in the country and then at the next board meeting we will decide on further measures. Therefore, be sure to follow our news both on the website and on social networks and you will definitely not miss the news about the dates of the next tournament.

Marija, is this the first event of this kind you’ve ever attended?
Yes, this is my first online gaming tournament.
Being a beginner in FIFA20, how hard was it to play against experienced FIFA20 players?
I have to say why I participated – firstly, I wanted to try myself, secondly, we didn’t know how many people would have applied for our first tournament. Of course, for a person who is playing FIFA for the first time, so many games in a row and in a tense atmosphere – it was really difficult. But I wanted to try myself and I did my best. I wasn’t cheating. I didn’t give my joysticks to FIFA geniuses. In the last game, I even replaced my favorite Ajax team and played for Juventus and realized that strong teams in life may not be so strong in inexperienced hands in FIFA. But, I think I wasn’t so bad, at least compared to those whose nerves could not withstand all this tension and had to quit because of it. I almost even liked it. Certainly several moments made my opponents smile, but thanks to all the participants – we were positive, friendly and with a sense of humor, without it it would hardly be possible to play with me.
Will you continue to play FIFA20?
Definitely yes. There is still so much to improve and those tricks that some showed, oh, I also want to play so nicely! If not in real live, then at least here I have such opportunity.
How important do you think FIFA game is in a footballer’s life?
If we talk about the current situation – I think this game plays quite a big role. At least for those who have the opportunity to play it. I will not talk about the fact that, of course, a footballer can develop an understanding of the tactical side of football, etc., but at the moment I would like to emphasize that there is simply a miss for real football. There is no broadcast of the games, let’s not talk about the Belarusian championship, nor the opportunity to play it on the football field. Even I, not being a football player, seeing even just pictures of football fields on the internet – pressed on top of hearts. Because I miss football. Very. Therefore, I think that the FIFA game for football players at the moment helps to quench their thirst after all this. We must remember that Football belongs to each of us, the people. That is why, being together at this time also in FIFA – meeting new people, supporting, playing against each other, football doesn’t stop, it has no pause, it still continues to live.

Maksim, what is your impression of the first event of FK Lielupe as a member of the board?
The tournament was successfully held, and that’s the key. It was the first tournament of its kind for us, it is not insignificant, so there may have been some mistakes, but everything was resolved in our favor. The god of football helped us, I believe. In these difficult times, the god of football is with us and he also enjoyed this interesting tournament, because now, unfortunately, we can’t enjoy football either in real life or watching it on TV, so the god of football has to entertain himself too, so sometimes he posed some interesting challenges for us, but sometimes he also helped. In short, we will definitely meet in the next tournament. Very soon! It will be incredible!
How is the level of participants assessed?
The level of participants was quite high, but still there were both beginners and semi-professionals. It was very interesting to play, because everyone was playing on their own tactics, there was tension, pressure and passion.
Already have ideas for upcoming tournaments? Will there be any changes in the regulations?
We already have some ideas, but most importantly, we also want it, so, wait for the new tournament in the very near future! As for the changes, yes, there will be some changes, but they will be more related to supplementing the existing regulation. We will probably divide the participants by pots, taking into account the results of previous tournaments. But if we dream, then there is a desire to create our own cyber league, but for now it is only a dream.

You can get acquainted with all the results of the tournament – here.

We would like to thank all participants for time, games and great emotions!