PES 2014 World Finals - A Summary

The Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 World Champion was decided on Wednesday July 2nd, after a series of thrilling group and knock-out PES matches between 27 of the world’s best players. Which player enjoyed this glory? Read on to find out!

The event took place in the rather swish Evolution Suite, at one of football’s most iconic stadiums – Old Trafford. The players arrived by coach in the morning, knowing that these would be some of the most challenging games of PES they’d ever played. Nevertheless, every participant knew that, by the end of the day, one of them would be lifting the PES World Final trophy and bagging a massive €15.000! Needless to say, there was plenty at stake!

Group Stages

The players were put into four groups of 6-7, with the top 4 from each going through to the last 16 knock-outs. You can see how these games panned out in the Group tables below:

Knock-Out Stage: Last 16

The fight for a last-16 place got pretty tight in some of the groups, but after several matches each – the 16 were decided. These players proceeded to face each other in two-legged knock-out matches. This meant that one mistake could prove far more costly, and many of the knock-out matches were indeed won by only narrow margins… with a couple of notable exceptions! Check out the results below.

Over two legs, six of the eight games played saw a margin of only one or two goals decide the winner. For LoScandalo_PL and valber_gyn meanwhile, their victories were a little more pronounced – winning 10-2 and 6-1 on aggregate respectively. It doesn’t matter how the players secure victory however – a win is a win, and the final eight moved one step closer towards a chance to win €2000+, or even the tournament title! Roll on the Quarter Finals…

Quarter-Finals

The quarter-finalists reached this stage knowing that another win would guarantee a monetary prize. Spain’s PaCo_10 took on the PES2014 UCL Festival champion Ronaldiinhoo10 from France, with the Frenchman just about edging it by a 3-2 aggregate score. VietKong90321 and lieja went head-to-head, representing Italy and Belgium respectively. It was VietKong90321 who proved his superior PES skills on this occasion however, with a decisive 6-1 aggregate victory. Brazil’s valber_gyn and Greece’s apolytosarxon played a far closer game, with the Greek player proving victorious through an 8-7 aggregate win.

A particular highlight was the featured streamed match between UK’s DexK and Italy’s LoScandalo_PL. After two intense matches, these two players could still not be separated, with a aggregate score of 5-5, a deciding 5-minute play off with extra time still couldn’t separate the players… and to penalties it went! It was edge-of-seat stuff, but Britain’s DexK triumphed, and secured himself a Semi-Final place.

Semi-Finals & Third-Place Playoff

With the top four players in the tournament receiving at least €2000, each of the remaining players were now guaranteed to take home a prize. The four players in question were Ronaldiinhoo10 (FRA), VietKong90321 (ITA), DexK (UK) and apolytosarxon (GRE).

Semi final number 1 saw UCL Festival winner Ronaldiinhoo10 pitted against 2014 Youth League winner and 2011 World Finals champ VietKong90321; suffice to say, a cracking game was anticipated. There certainly was some great skill on display, and some fantastic goals scored, although the final score wasn’t quite a close as we might have expected! VietKong90321 played superbly, netting a total of 5 goals after two legs, with Ronaldiinhoo10 scoring only 1 back in reply. DexK’s game against apolytosarxon was decidedly closer, with Dex’s second game in a row requiring a penalty shoot-out to decide the winner. This time however, the penalty gods did not look down on the UK competitor so kindly, and it was Greece’s apolytosarxon who steamrolled into the Final.

Whilst DexK was out of the tournament, he came back from 2-0 down to beat Ronaldiinhoo10 3-2 in the Third Place Playoff, securing an extra €1000 to his total prize amount as a result – and of course, the claim of being third best in the world! This is the furthest a UK competitor has ever got in the World Finals, so a big congrats to him, and a big well done to Ronaldinhoo10 also for a very respectable Fourth place!

Final

And then the Final arrived! Whilst VietKong90321 was somewhat a veteran of the tournament, having won it before three years earlier, this was a new experience for the Greek apolytosarxon. However, both players had equally proved their ability in the games leading up to this moment – you don’t get to the Finals of a tournament like this by accident! The atmosphere was tense, as both players took to the main stage…. but rather than us explaining how it panned out here, the best thing is surely for you to watch the action for yourself! CLICK HERE to watch the final on our Twitch channel, and find out who the World Finals winner is.

If you don’t have the time to watch the video though, and are anxious to simply know who the PES2014 champion is, read on…

Ready to find out the winner? Well… securing a 3-2 victory, and bagging €15.000, as well as the title of World Champion, is…

Apolytosarxon! For the first time, a Greek player takes the title, showing superb skill and determination to lift the 2014 World Finals trophy. Congrats apolytosarxon! Massive respect goes to runner-up VietKong90321 also, who once again proved himself to be a force to be reckoned with in competitive PES play.

Gallery

Here is just a small selection of the pictures taken during the event. You can find far more on our Flickr Page HERE. A big thanks to our community photographer Ace Ashun who took these awesome photos!

Did you attend the Finals, or watch the action via our live Twitch stream? Did the player you were rooting for do well? Let us know all your thoughts in the comments below!