Goal-den rewards for footie champs
PES dispenses $350k cash pot at World Finals
ESPORTS CAN BE JUST AS LIVELY AS ITS REAL-LIFE COUNTERPART.
09Men against boys is an old footballing cliché – well, one of the boys has come out on top, as 17-year-old Guilherme ‘GuiFera’ Fonseca from Brazil triumphed at the PES League 2017 World Finals and pocketed a cool US$200,000 along with the title of World Champion.
The event, held at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, showcased 16 of the world’s best PES players. Think you’re good at PES? You’ve got nothing on the finalists: Fonseca scraped a 2-1 win in the 117th minute of extra time against Italian Ettore ‘Ettorito97’ Giannuzzi thanks to – who else – PES poster boy Lionel Messi. That sensible scoreline was a far cry from their previous games, with the pair scoring over 20 goals between them in the semifinals, but it’s proof enough that the eSport can be just as lively as its real-life counterpart.
Konami has doubled down on eSports this year, with several qualifying events featuring cash prizes of up to $20k, and the Champions League-style World Finals day being streamed across the globe on Twitch (complete with swanky studio). The winner wasn’t the only one filling his boots with sweet, sweet cash: Giannuzzi took home US$100,000, with even third-placed Jhonatan ‘Jhona_KRA” Salazar getting US$50,000 for his troubles.
Does the 17-year-old PES World Champion Guifera have any plans for the money? “I am going to spend the money on studying at university in Brazil.” Very sensible, then. We’ll ask him again when he’s 18… Fancy a crack at the pros? PES 2018 has a fully-integrated eSports mode.