KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 — eSport player, Ahmad Akmal Abdul Rafil has become the first Malaysian to be crowned champion for the EA Sports Fifa Global Series East Asia Regional Qualifier 2.

The 20-year-old from the Klasiko eSports team won the monthly regional qualifier after defeating Fifa eClub World Cup champion, Tsakt from the Japanese eSport team, Blue United eFC.

"Going into the tournament, I didn’t put much hope because it was my first time joining such a tournament.”

"But as the tournament went on, I’ve gained more and more confidence,” Akmal said.

He managed to win this month’s qualifier by using what is considered by most as an ‘underdog’ team against top players from the East Asia region.

He received US$5,000 (RM20,532) for winning the qualifier last weekend.

The EA Sports Fifa Global Series is a regional tournament where players go head-to-head against each other every month.

The top performing players who compete in regional tournaments and domestic leagues will qualify for the Regional Playoffs at the end of the season to crown the Fifa 21 Global Series Regional Champion.

According to Akmal, when it comes to the Fifa Ultimate Team (FUT), gamers can choose to use any players from different leagues and different eras into their team.

Gamers can also invest money to get their dream players and other items by buying the Fifa FUT packs.

This method is widely used by professional gamers around the globe especially for big tournaments.

The statistics from Akmal’s grand final match against Fifa eClub World Cup champion, Tsakt of the Blue United eFC. — Picture courtesy of Ahmad Akmal Abdul Rafil

However, Akmal chose to use his in-game team for the regional qualifier.

"I’m still a student and I can’t afford to invest money into my team, so I just used my ‘Road To Glory’ team.”

"This is the team that I’ve built throughout playing the game without using my own money, all of the players that I’ve used in the tournament are from the rewards that I get from the game,” Akmal told Malay Mail.

The Chelsea fan also said that he was a huge football fan and had been playing Fifa since he was in primary school.

Akmal would often try to recreate gameplays by prominent football managers like Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho for his own Fifa gameplay.

The Uniten student was also grateful that his parents have supported him in his eSports career.

 

 

Akmal has been part of the Klasiko eSports team since 2019 and he has also joined other eSports tournaments such as Counter-Strike and Call of Duty.