On Friday evening, 64 players become 32 after the conclusion of the FC Pro Open Global Qualifier Swiss Stage matches.
Each of the 64 players featured had to win at least three of their five total matches to advance to the next round, leading to plenty of late drama in the final round of games.
Two players impressed on their way to going unbeaten - and thus earning their spots in tomorrow's knockout round with games to spare.
Manchester City new-boy Tekkz, and Argentina's FacuCowen (representing Tuzzy Esports), won all five of their matches, with the pair each scoring 22 goals.
Tekkz edged-out his rival on goal difference, with the Englishman beating Klinger and FadiAU in the first two games, before earning an impressive 5-3 win over Man City teammate Matias Bonanno in one of the standout matches of the night.
He rounded things off with a nervy 2-1 victory over Team Gullit's Levi De Weerd, who also qualified for the knockout round after winning his other four games.
FacuCowen, meanwhile, defeated didychrislito, Dudu27, JistenNSQ, dsaanchez, and - most impressively of all - 2022 eChampions League winner nicolas99fc. The all-Argentine clash was another highlight of the night, with FacuCowen narrowly winning 4-3.
Alongside De Weerd, dsaanchez, Lukas, The1OS, Bonnano, Leks, AntoniniGabriel, Nicolas99fc, Vejrgang and AbuMakkah also qualified for the next round having won four matches.
A special mention should go to RBLZ Gaming's Anders Vejrgang, whose 11-0 win over Kun in the second round of matches was the biggest margin of victory on the night.
For the remaining qualifiers, things weren't quite so straightforward, however. Most of the 12 invited players did advance to the next round, including Umut, Ollelito, Fouma and Emre Yilmaz - who all scraped through with three wins from five.
Others weren't so fortunate, with Lamps, Tuga810, Yuval and MSDossary all finishing outside of the top 32 - and thus going home early from the competition.
The full list of qualifiers can be found on our FC Pro Open Global Qualifier home page, alongside tables and bracket details.
The knockout round will take place across Saturday and Sunday (11th-12 November), with the first matches set to get underway at 6pm GMT.
You can watch the action live on YouTube and Twitch, to find out which 16 players will be going for glory against automatic qualifiers ManuBachoore, Mark11, Obrun and PHZin in the FC Pro Open.
As a reminder, over the course of the weekend, each of the 32 remaining players must navigate two rounds in the knockout stages in a bid to make the last 16. The stakes are high from the outset, as two defeats will see them eliminated from the competition.
You can keep up to date with all of the Global Qualifier action as it happens at ea.com.
