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Fifa 20: eSports qualifiers play rock-paper-scissors instead

Sterling-Hazard-and-Sancho-in-FIFA20.Image source, EA Sports

What do you do when the servers are down at a pro eSports tournament? Play rock-paper-scissors instead of course!

Competitors in the Fifa 20 FUT 20 Champions Cup qualifiers decided to play rock-paper-scissors after a server issue meant they couldn't compete against each other.

Players Shaun "Brandsha56" Galea and Hasan "Hasoo19" Eker were supposed to compete in the qualifying matches of stage five of the competition.

However, widespread server issues meant that the players could neither connect with, nor compete against each other.

EA, the company which owns Fifa, described it as a "really unique situation" and said they were opening up a review to "understand what occurred, and try to prevent this from happening again".

Unfortunately for Shaun and Hasan, both of them will receive losses for this match.

Media caption,

How to win rock paper scissors

The official Fifa 20 VBL International Series rulebook, states that: "If after 20 minutes from the start of that round beginning, competitors cannot get connected then tournament administrators will assign a loss to both Competitors and record the incident,"

Fifa says this is to prevent competitors using connection problems as an advantage.

Image source, Getty Images

The FUT 20 Champions Cup is a series of top-level tournaments, where pro-players go head-to-head, in the overall Global Series 2020.

Players taking part in these tournaments are hoping to earn enough points to qualify for a place in the eWorld Cup 2020.

Image source, FIFA/EA SPORTS

The disruption happened when thousands of players tried to advance via the Fifa Weekend League - where players who earned enough in-game points could compete for in-game rewards and pro-circuit qualifier points.

In response to the connection problems, EA extended the Weekend League for 24 hours.

Some pro-players have been critical of Fifa 20, saying it is unbalanced and that anyone can win, regardless of their skills. There have also been reports of cheating and toxic behaviour, which EA has responded to with bans.