A matter of hours before Western United kicked off in the A-League Men Grand Final, Dylan Campbell kick started the night by taking out the E-League.
Entering the competition as the No.1 seed, Campbell flew through Group A before defeating all comers in the Finals to win his first E-League title.
After admitting himself to being disappointed with his performances in previous iterations of the E-League, Campbell said there was great relief and pride to have finally held the trophy in his hands.
“Going into it I had really high expectations on myself. E-League was the one competition that in the past I may have underperformed in, so this was the year that I wanted to push on and go win the trophy,” he said.
“This year it’s crazy, to go on and win the whole thing and win the trophy it’s unbelievable.”
Campbell went undefeated in the group stages with four wins and a draw, earning him a place in the Upper Bracket for the Finals.
The format of the competition means that each competitor can have a loss and still have a second chance at reaching the Grand Final, but Campbell wasn’t waiting around.
Not only did he remain in the Upper Bracket for the entire time, but he didn’t lose a single leg in any of the four Finals ties across two nights last Wednesday and Saturday.
A 5-2 aggregate win over Mo Zwed from Melbourne Victory kickstarted the march to the title on Wednesday before he dispatched of Melbourne City’s Naylor 6-0 in the next round.
From there Campbell reached Championship Saturday where he defeated both Newcastle Jets competitors on route to winning the whole thing.
After breezing past Mark11 5-1 on aggregate in the final four, Campbell met MarkJ in the Grand Final and got straight to work in the first leg with a 3-0 win setting him for glory.
A 2-2 draw in the second fixture resulted in a 5-2 aggregate win and Campbell and Western United’s first E-League crown, with Campbell afterwards thanking the Club for its support.
“Big shoutout to Western United. Their support this year has been crazy. My family as well and all the guys watching on Twitch that have bene supporting me throughout the whle year, it means a lot,” he said.
Up next for Campbell will be a trip to London to compete in the EA SPORTS FIFA Global Series, while he says he hopes to compete in more events overseas to elevate his reputation in the esports world.
Western United’s other competitor Negede Hunegnaw also made it to the final day of the tournament and achieved a fourth placed finish.
