Vietnam narrowly misses FC Online world title, prompting Thai esports player to question fairness

Vietnam's NK FC Online team finished as runners-up at the FC Pro Champions Cup 2026 in Seoul, South Korea, on Sunday evening, after a narrow 3-4 defeat to home team T1.

FC Online is an online soccer video game in which each player controls a virtual soccer team to compete against an opponent.

Unlike in real-life soccer, members of an FC Online esports team do not compete together on the virtual pitch. Instead, each team registers three or four players, who take turns facing opponents from the other team.

NK entered the tournament with four players: captain Do Trung Thanh (in-game name ThanhMan), Le Ha Anh Tuan (LHAT), Nguyen Duy Dong (Endyy), and Tran Hoai Nam (NamThi).

The final followed a best-of-seven format, with the first team to win four games crowned champion. Each game featured two esports players, each controlling a virtual soccer team.

NK got off to a difficult start, losing the first three games. Endyy fell 2-3 to Navy, LHAT lost 1-3 to Hoseok, and ThanhMan was defeated 0-1 by Ofel.

Trailing 0-3, the Vietnamese team had to win all four remaining games to claim the title.

NamThi sparked the comeback with a 2-1 victory over Byul. LHAT then defeated Navy 5-2 before ThanhMan edged past Hoseok 3-2, bringing NK level at 3-3.

In the deciding seventh game, LHAT faced Hoseok again. The two players drew 2-2 after regulation time, forcing a penalty shootout to determine the winner.

LHAT lost the shootout 4-5, handing NK a 3-4 overall defeat and ending its hopes of completing a remarkable comeback.

However, concerns raised after the match about the penalty shootout and FC Online's anti-time-wasting system sparked debate over the Vietnamese players' experience during the final.

Thai player raises questions over unusual missed penalties

Following the final, Thai esports player Phatanasak Varanan, 23, known by his in-game name JubJub, from Advice Esports, posted on his JuBjubeiei account about penalty incidents he considered unusual.

According to JubJub, two of his teammates, TDKeane and Michael04, had previously missed penalties despite their shooting inputs being rated in the game's "green zone."

He said LHAT experienced a similar situation during the final against T1, missing two consecutive penalties.

JubJub consequently questioned whether Thai and Vietnamese players had faced disadvantages during their matches.

However, the available information does not establish why the penalties were missed, and no technical investigation has confirmed that the incidents resulted from a game malfunction.

A penalty going wide despite a green-rated shooting input does not, on its own, prove that the system malfunctioned or that the match result was manipulated.

Why is the anti-time-wasting system also controversial?

Beyond the penalty shootout, Vietnamese gaming community page Troll Esports claimed that LHAT had received four anti-time-wasting penalty points just four minutes into a game.

The system is designed to prevent players from deliberately running down the clock by keeping possession in their own half or repeatedly passing the ball to deny opponents opportunities to regain possession.

Under the tournament rules, actions such as deliberately circulating the ball in one's own half, passing repeatedly between defenders, or repeatedly heading the ball back to the goalkeeper can trigger the anti-time-wasting system.

Each activation can result in a four-point penalty. Accumulating 12 points, equivalent to three activations, leads to an automatic game loss.

Therefore, LHAT receiving four penalty points does not mean he was warned four times by a referee. The points could have resulted from a single activation of the system.

What raised questions among fans was the claim that the system had been triggered just four minutes into the game. However, the information presented is insufficient to determine whether the penalty was correctly applied.

Troll Esports also commented on the opposing goalkeeper's ability to make saves and several incidents in which players on LHAT's virtual team collided with one another while building attacks.

These observations remain community claims and have not been supported by verified technical findings.