João “jafonso” Vasconcelos pulled off an extraordinary feat at the 2024 Esports World Cup, claiming the FC24 championship title in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
His journey to victory was nothing short of incredible, especially considering that he barely qualified for the event just a week before via the Last Chance Qualifier.
The Journey
Jafonso’s performance in the tournament was nothing less than dominant. He stormed through the group stage, finishing at the top of Group A with a near-flawless 6-1 record. This secured him a direct path to the playoffs, where he continued his impressive run by defeating Manuel “ManuBachoore” Bachoore 6-2 in the quarterfinals.
The real nail-biter came in the semifinals against Paulo “PHzin” Chaves, where jafonso had to dig deep. The match went into extra time, and it was only in the dying moments that jafonso found the winning goal, edging out a 7-6 victory.
This momentum carried him into the grand finals, where he faced Gabriel “Young” Freitas, another standout competitor from Group A. In a repeat of their earlier encounter, jafonso defeated Young 6-2 to secure the championship title.
WE CAN'T SAY MORE THAN… VAMOOOOOOOOS 🗣️@jafonsogv DEFEATS @Young192_ 6-2! 🔥🔥🔥#EsportsWorldCup #FC24 pic.twitter.com/PRFlUL5fyB
— Esports World Cup (@EWC_EN) August 18, 2024
The Prize
The victory netted jafonso a cool $300,000 from the $1 million prize pool and earned his team, Luna Galaxy, 1000 championship points. Earlier this year, the Portuguese also won the eMLS Cup and finished 3rd at the FC Pro World Championship.
FC 24 Esports World Cup Final Standings
The final standings of the 16 participating players and their share of the prize pool are as follows:
- 1. jafonsogv – $300,000
- 2. Young – $150,000
- 3-4. PHZin, AbuMakkah – $90,000
- 5-8. ManuBachoore, Mark11, Vejrgang, nicolas99fc – $50,000
- 9-12. Bonanno, Web Nasri, Nathansr99, Emre Yilmaz – $30,000
- 13-14. Levi de Weerd, Msdossary – $15,000
- 15-16. Jonny, GoalPoacher – $10,000
