Zaid April wins SAFA eCup 2023

If you are a FIFA 23 esports fan, then you might have already followed the South African Football Association (SAFA)’s eCup, which came to a conclusion this past weekend. Here’s who won the event and what the player had to say.

SAFA eCup 2023 champion

After three rounds of qualifiers in February and early April and the top eight from the FIFA Global Series (on 1 March 2023) we had our sixteen players who competed for the top spot in the SAFA eCup 2023 on Saturday, 25 March 2023.

In the grand finals, we saw four groups of four players, including the likes of Kaylan Moodley (Africa’s No1), Thabo Moloi, Julio Bianchi, April, all from Goliath Gaming, and Ubaid Mahomed, Aqil Sampath, and the Orlando Pirates duo of Aidan Bouah and Riaasat Ebrahim making the quarterfinals as per a press release.

It was, however, Goliath Gaming’s Zaid April who faced off against Kaylan Moodley in the grand final of the SAFA eCup 2023. In the end, Zaid April became the champion without losing a match, showing their dominance!

Zaid April says: “I am happy to have won the tournament unbeaten as the competition was tough against my team-mates at Goliath Gaming and in the national team. We know each other very well, and on the day anyone can win it, but I am happy that my performance was good at the right times during the tournament.”

Zaid April, therefore, retains his spot in the national team for 2023 and the side will be competing in the FIFAe Nations Online Qualifiers on 13 April 2023 in the Africa-Middle-East region, joining Ghana, Morocco, Egypt, and Kenya as African representatives in the FIFA23 Playstation competition.

SAFA COO Lydia Monyepao says:

“We are encouraged by the 361 players that registered at the beginning of our campaign last year and believe that gaming is getting us closer to our youth. The SAFA eCup is the channel for football and gaming enthusiasts who aspire to play amongst the best in the world on the FIFA game. As members of FIFA we relish this opportunity to offer South African youth a chance to participate in this global competition. We wish the 2023 team all the best as they begin their qualifiers next month.”

A big congratulations go out to Zaid April for winning the SAFA eCup 2023! We can’t wait to see what the national team does in the FIFAe Nations Online Qualifiers.

Header image via SAFA.