There is more controversy within the competitive FIFA community as two players have been suspended for the rest of the season after being found guilty of buying coins. Both players were found to have broken the FIFA Global Series Official Rules and Code of Conduct during the vetting process for May's Licensed Qualifier Event.
This is the second time in a month that EA has taken disciplinary action on players for buying coins as Tottenham Hotspur ePremier League representative Kylem "Lyricz" Edwards was suspended in April.
One of the two players who has been suspended is Khalid 'TheRoyal' Aloufi who is currently ranked 10th in the Xbox One FIFA Global Series rankings - a placement that would have automatically qualified him for the FIFA eWorld Cup. The Saudi Arabian, who partnered with Mossad "MSDossary" Aldossary at the FIFA eNations Cup, will miss the rest of this season's tournaments including the aforementioned eWorld Cup which is the biggest event of the year.
However, many people were left unsatisfied with this punishment as the season is nearly finished. There are very few major events remaining, meaning the eWorld Cup is really the only major event that TheRoyal will miss. And many pros expressed their annoyance in how long it has taken for action to be taken as many players have been eliminated in online qualifiers by players who have broken the rules.
All of these pros that bought coins likely did so earlier in the season, giving themselves a distinct advantage over those who couldn't afford to spend a lot of money on packs. With how long it has taken for these acts of rule-breaking to be punished, multiple pros have called for the vetting process to be improved, including Kurt Fenech, who had been suspended himself earlier in the season.
The Maltese player was eliminated by TheRoyal in the ELEAGUE Atlanta licensed qualifier event and took to Twitter to vent his frustrations, saying: "In absolute disbelief. Another player this time in the Top 10 banned for buying coins when the season is pretty much over. Why has it taken this long?"