Brondby are celebrating once again after retaining their crown in the second edition of the FIFA eClub World Cup in Paris. The tournament offered up four qualifying spots for the EA SPORTS FIFA 18 Global Series Playoffs, which will be held between 28 and 30 May and then from 1 to 3 June in Amsterdam – where 32 places will be up for grabs at the FIFA eWorld Cup 2018.

After a thrilling and spectacular opening day in the French capital, Sunday's action kicked off with the last two rounds of games in groups A and B, which brought the group stage to a close. It was then time for the knockout phase, and Brondby ultimately came out on top despite a shaky start.

The Champions Having finished third in Group B, TEAM ENVY began to find form in the quarter-finals. 'Aero' (Xbox) from France and Germany's 'Eisvogel' (PS4) impressed by carving out a path to the final, where they finished runners-up to Brondby.

The decider was an exciting affair, however, with 'Eisvogel' handing his team-mate a superb opportunity by clinching a 4-1 win against 'Fredberg'. 'Aero' was unable to capitalise on that advantage, succumbing 6-0 to 'Fifaustun' as the Danish team prevailed 7-4 on aggregate.

"My team-mate's goal gave me hope," said 'Fifaustun' after the final. "I played very aggressively with the goal of scoring as much as possible, and everything ended up in the net."

Through to Amsterdam With half the players in the semi-finals already qualified for the EA SPORTS FIFA 18 Global Series Playoffs, the four tickets to Amsterdam were automatically handed to the four other players in the last four:

The Other Contenders After a difficult first day, UNILAD and PSG eSports were unable to recover and qualify for the quarter-finals. The English side, represented by reigning world champion 'Gorilla' (Xbox) and by 'SHELLZZ' (PS4), had no room for error but were eliminated after falling short against FC Schalke 04 Esports.

As for the French team, they faced heartbreak after another tough day. 'Daxe' (Xbox) and 'Maniika' (PS4) failed to pull off a comeback and exited following a draw and a defeat.

There was frustration too for Hashtag Academy, who topped Group A but fell to Mkers in the last eight. With ‘TheStrxngeR’ in scintillating form, FC Basel 1893 also had hopes of reaching the semi-finals, only to be knocked out by TEAM ENVY.

Lastly, Falcons eSport's Saudi Arabian duo looked to be genuine candidates for the title thanks to their blistering attacking quality, but 'The Royal' and 'Msdossary7' had no answer to TEAM ENVY in the last four.