FIFA 20 esports qualifiers decided by Rock, Paper, Scissors when players can’t connect

A qualifying-round match for the latest stage of FIFA 20’s FUT 20 Champions Cup had to be determined by a round of virtual Rock, Paper, Scissors when its competitors couldn’t connect to each other.

The FIFA series’ subreddit this morning posted reports of match problems in the esports tournament’s qualifying round, one of which were resolved by roshambo. Another player defaulted an elimination match, apparently when they were unable to connect while their opponent could.

Polygon has reached out to EA Sports representatives earlier this afternoon to ask for more clarification on what took place in qualifying and how it was resolved. No reply was received before publication time.

Shaun “Brandsha” Galea, a FIFA pro who is currently second place in the Malta ePremier League, says he lost via Rock, Paper, Scissors when he and his opponent, Hasan “Hasoo19” Eker, couldn’t find or invite each other to play in their licensed qualifier.

Levy Frederique, a Dutch pro for M10 Esports, said he defaulted to FaZe Clan’s Tassal “Tass” Rushan after trying to connect for more than three hours.

(For his part, Rushan disputed that he tried to “frame” Rushan and said his anger should be directed at the FUT Champions Cup administrators.)

FIFA 20 was among several Electronic Arts games suffering server outages on Thursday, although that was apparently resolved later Thursday afternoon. It’s unclear if these problems are related.

The FUT 20 Champions Cup is a series of major-level tournaments, featuring one-on-one competition among pros, in the overall Global Series 2020. Players are competing for qualifying points and a place in the eWorld Cup 2020.

Each stage offers 2000 points to the first- and second-place finishers (and $50,000 and $30,000, respectively). Stage 4 wrapped up last week with Brazil’s Zezinho becoming the first South American player to win a FUT Champions Cup. Stage 5 will be held April 3 to April 5.

Update: EA Sports this evening made the following statement, calling it “a really unique situation,” and noting that no player was eliminated by Rock, Paper, Scissors or a match default. (Click on the image to get the full statement.) We have revised our story to avoid any confusion.