16-year-old wins Wicked Wednesday FC 25 tournament in London

21 November 2024

On Wednesday, October 23rd, it was time for Week 3 of the popular offline EA Sports FC 25 tournament Wicked Wednesday, organised by professional FC 25 commentator Brandon Smith at the GiantX headquarters in London. As usual, the event started with 32 of Europe’s best players, including various professional players and current Esports World Cup champion Joao “Jafonso” Vasconcelos from Portugal. To the surprise of most though, it was 16-year-old Bulgarian player Alihan “Alihan” Hadzhi who took the title home after beating Dutch veteran Levi de Weerd in the final.

Three weeks of FC 25 action

For those not familiar with the Wicked Wednesday concept, a brief intro to Brandon Smith’s latest creation. As mentioned before, the tournament started with 32 players, including a host of (internationally) renowned names. Then, over a span of three weeks and three online events, that number was brought down to eight. In Week 3, those eight players gathered at GiantX in London, where 12.000 people saw 16-year-old prodigy Alihan clinch the title in a tense final against two-time FIFA European champion Levi de Weerd.

“3 months of hard work between everyone in this photo, to deliver an incredible event last night”, wrote organizer and commentator Brandon Smith on his own X account a day after the Wicked Wednesday had finished, “From what started out as a small online cash cup, turned into a $2500 offline event in London. Couldn’t be more proud of what we achieved; lots to learn and lots more to come for the FC PRO community. That was Wicked Wednesdays.”

Good form throughout Week 3

While Alihan was not amongst the favorites to win Wicked Wednesdays, there was a writing on the wall that the Bulgarian might make a deep run from the beginning of Week 3. He kicked off the final phase in the quarterfinals against British player and member of RBLZ Gaming Alfie “RedLac” Calder. Despite the fact that RedLac was in good form building up to Week 3, including finishing top of Week 1 of Wicked Wednesday, he was no match for the young Alihan as the Bulgarian sent him packing: 4-2.

Up next was Ilian “Ilian” Bouchi from France, who represents both Team Vitality and LOSC Esports (the esports arm of football club Lille OSC) professionally. While the Frenchman started off well in the semifinals, he was eventually overwhelmed by Alihan’s tactical prowess in combination with great efficiency in front of goal. The 16-year-old qualified for the final with a 6-3 victory over Ilian.

The Wicked Wednesday Week 3 final pitched Alihan against Levi de Weerd, the Dutchman two-time European champion who is something of a living legend in the international FIFA/EA 25 circuit. Initially, perhaps the pressure got the best of the Bulgarian as he went 0-1 behind, but an impressive comeback saw him claim victory over De Weerd. Besides the title and the prestige, his 2-1 victory also gained him € 1.500 in prize money, or about £ 1.248.