Two Brazilian teams, LOUD and Team Solid, penalized for teaming during the EWC 2024. Further punishment may follow.
A scandal emerged during the prestigious Esports Worlds Cup (EWC) when two Brazilian Free Fire teams, LOUD and Team Solid, were deemed guilty of teaming during the competition.
Team Solid was the champion of the Free Fire World Series (FFWS) Brazil 2024, securing their slot for the Free Fire EWC 2024, while LOUD placed fourth in the same tournament.
The Free Fire EWC 2024 boasts a total prize pool of $1,000,000 USD, with the champion gaining a direct invitation to the grand finals of FFWS Global 2024.
Update: Penalty Points end up not playing major role
The 5 Point deduction did not end up playing a major role in the final outcome of the Grand Finals, outside of psychological. LOUD finished 6th with 57 points, 13 points behind 5th place BRU. Meanwhile Team Solid placed 12th with 14 points, 10 points behind 11th place TWIS. Team Falcons were the ultimate winners of the event with 83 points.
Both LOUD and Team Solid penalized with -5 points for the Finals
In an official statement, EWC announced that they had conducted a thorough investigation and decided to penalize both LOUD and Team Solid with a deduction of 5 points.
Therefore, since both teams failed to gain any points during the Point Rush, they started the Grand Finals of the Esports World Cup with -5 points, a major disadvantages for them to win the tournament.
"The EWC Team conducted a thorough investigation after finding teams attempting to team up in the Free Fire tournament to gain a competitive advantage.
The conclusion of the investigation has confirmed misconduct by two teams, Team Solid and LOUD, who separately attempted to team up with other competitors. In Accordance with the official tournament rules, specially "15.11.4 Teaming Up", an immediate punishment of deduction of 5 points in today's Finals has been given to both Team Solid and LOUD.
Potential further sanctions additional to the immediate penalties are currently being reviewed and may be imposed at a later point in time."
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What is 'teaming' in Free Fire?
Teaming is a common term in Battle Royale competitions, referring to two or more teams collaborating to gain an advantage. In international competitions, teaming usually occurs between teams from the same region or country.
There are various scenarios in which this can happen. For example, a losing team (typically with no hope of winning) may give free kills to another team from the same country to provide them with an advantage.
Another scenario is when teams from the same region or country agree not to kill each other, even when they meet accidentally. Players might share prior drop zone information or wear striking attributes — such as a bright red car skin or a panda costume — so the enemy can differentiate them from other players. This is why, in official tournaments, it is common for all players to use the same attributes.
Community unhappy for lack of proof
The Brazilian community, especially fans of LOUD and Team Solid, are unhappy with the penalty imposed by EWC, believing there is no definite proof for the allegation.
They compare the case to teams from other countries, specifically mentioning Thailand, who are suspected of similar actions but remain unpunished.
As mentioned before, while it might be suspicious that two teams meeting each other did not end in a crossfire, there might be other reasons for it, such as both teams lacking ammo or just not feeling confident in their firepower.
At the time of writing, there has been no follow-up statement from EWC. Stay tuned to esports.gg for further news regarding this issue.
