Chris Holly has won the first-ever eChampions League in Madrid.
The Beast was one of eight FIFA players from around the world to qualify for the competition and he stormed the quarterfinals, semifinals and final to secure the trophy and win $100,000.
Holly's long battle to the finals began early in the day when he faced off against Vitality Rafsou, a gamer from France. After trailing for much of the QF, Chris forced 30 more minutes with a last gasp equaliser in normal time before he took the last eight match-up late in overtime to make it to the semis.
Holly was the second challenger to advance, and the lone American to make it that far, with AlanAvi of FC Dallas being eliminated in the quarterfinals.
In the last four, Chris faced off against North Marcuzo, of FC Kobenhavn. Marcuzo took the lead early scoring the first goal of the matchup. Although Marcuzo seemed to have the upper hand, Holly scored a set of back-to-back goals to secure the first leg win, 2-1 over his opponent.
The second leg began with Holly extending his aggregate lead with the first goal but Marcuzo wasn’t giving up, scoring back-to-back goals to tie the pair overall, forcing more extratime.
In a crazy game, the pair traded goals in extratime, meaning the semi extended into penalty kicks where Holly didn’t miss a single PK, securing his spot in the first-ever eCL Final.
One more match, standing between him and the $100,000 prize...
Holly faced off against Dr. Night Watch in the final, taking a 2-0 shutout lead to advance to the second leg of the final in a commanding position.
He didn't let it slip, netting four more times in a confident second leg performance to take the eChampions League trophy with a 6-3 final win.
The Beast fought off Dr. Night Watch to bring home the victory, the first-ever eChampions League trophy with the NYCFC crest on his chest.
“I’m still in shock. This is my first ever trophy, I've been close before but what a trophy to win," said Chris. “It’s a crazy feeling, to be honest. In Manchester, when I was playing didn’t expect much but now I’m the champion and I got to bring my dad.”
"To be honest, I still have a long way to go. I have to be mentally tougher, and still have a lot of work to do.”
Congrats Beast, you've earned every bit of this! We couldn't be more proud, #ForTheCity!
Stay tuned for a video recap of Chris's trip to Madrid on NYCFC.com in the coming days.
