Alessio Romagnoli and Adriano Galliani accused the Spanish contestants of being ‘sneaky’ in an eSports tournament, as FIFA cancelled the eNations StayAndPlay Cup.
“The ‘eNations StayAndPlay Cup’, a virtual tournament promoted by FIFA with the aim of reaffirming the commitment of world football in sharing positive messages during these tough times, has been cancelled due to technical and organisational problems linked to the spread of Covid-19,” read a statement from the FIGC.
Alessio Romagnoli and Adriano Galliani accused the Spanish contestants of being ‘sneaky’ in an eSports tournament, as FIFA cancelled the eNations StayAndPlay Cup.
“The ‘eNations StayAndPlay Cup’, a virtual tournament promoted by FIFA with the aim of reaffirming the commitment of world football in sharing positive messages during these tough times, has been cancelled due to technical and organisational problems linked to the spread of Covid-19,” read a statement from the FIGC.
“The format of the tournament includes the participation of teams with a professional eplayer and a player from their respective nation.
“The Italian duo was formed by AC Milan and Azzurri defender Alessio Romagnoli alongside Raffael ‘Er_caccia98’ Cacciapuoti, Monza Calcio’s professional eplayer and winner of the TIMVISION FIFA20 online tournament on PlayStation organised by the FIGC.”
Italy were in the same group as Spain, Portugal and Malta, but the Spanish entry caused controversy because their team was made up of ePlayer Jaime ‘Gravesen’ Alvarez and celebrity DJMariio rather than a professional footballer.
DJMariio is considered to be one of the top 30 FIFA20 players in the world. None of the other nations refused to field a professional football player.
Monza CEO Galliani and Milan defender Romagnoli complained about the choice, implying it was not in the spirit of the competition to field essentially two ePlayers and no footballers.
The competition was then cancelled just hours before it was due to kick off.
“I didn’t like the Spanish move of using a YouTuber who plays practically like an eSports player, rather than a professional. They were trying to be doubly sneaky,” Romagnoli told news agency ANSA.
“After that, I won’t play if FIFA ask me to take part in a tournament, get me to organise my time around it and then suddenly pull out the night before by telling me it’s just a friendly.”