Some interesting news has come out of the FIFA community over the past week, as a top FIFA 20 player was suspended from the Ultimate Team Champions’ Cup after coordinating with other elite players in a Discord server.

FIFA 20 and Colluding Players

Yesterday, a report from Eurosport detailed some of the dirty details that have been going on in FIFA 20. A few days ago, YouTube content creator RunTheFutMarket was working his way up the Weekend League leaderboard and was closing in on a top 100 finish. For those who are not aware, the Weekend League is a mode in Football Ultimate Team that gives players the chance to earn in-game awards by beating other gamers in 1v1 online play.

RunTheFutMarket, during his run, was disconnected from one of his games in the dying moments of the match. Not only was he dealt with a loss, but he also said that this was first disconnect in three years. He suspected that the person he was playing against exploited a glitch in FIFA 20 to disconnect him. That way, he would be dealt with a loss, but his opponent would not be saddled with a loss on his record.

After this incident, RunTheFutMarket released screenshots of a Discord chat that he acquired from a friend in the server. The screenshots were of a Discord server that housed many of the top FIFA North American players. These screenshots, which RunTheFutMarket detailed in a video on YouTube channel, indicate that these players conspired to take him down so that he would not get a spot in the top 100. The players in the server would also use it as a “dodging Discord”, as these gamers would make sure that they didn’t compete with each other during FUT tournaments.

EA responded to the incident by disciplining one of the players in the chat, Christopher “NYC_Chris” Holly. Holly, who is a member of the NYC FC FIFA eSports team, was given a two qualifier suspension for his role in the “dodging Discord.” Holly will be ineligible for the online qualifiers in Stages I and II of the FUT Champions Cup. EA explained that he was suspended ‘in response to encouraging experienced players to avoid match-making at the same time as the player to gain a competitive advantage”

Holly sent a tweet in response to the suspension, noting that he was sorry for coordinating with other top players. Holly added, “I’ve made a mistake that I will learn from and I’ll do my best to earn your trust back.”

I want to say I’m sorry and apologize to NYCFC, EA and to the fans. I’ve made a mistake that I will learn from and I’ll do my best to earn your trust back. https://t.co/gZiEk6h8Z8

— Christopher Holly (@didychrislito) November 1, 2019

Another interesting piece from EA’s announcement is that another influential player was given a permanent ban from FIFA. The FIFA player Kurt0411 was perma-banned, but not for coordinating with top players in the game. Rather, he was banned for publishing content that EA said was abusive and harassing to their employees. EA noted in their announcement that Kurt0411 violated EA Sports’ FIFA Global Series Code of Conduct four times between October 2018 and October 2019, resulting in a permanent ban.

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