• Mohammed ‘MoAuba’ Harkous won the FIFAe World Cup in 2019 against the odds

• His experience meeting some of the best players and coaches in the world at The Best FIFA Football Awards™

• How much his family means to him, a scary childhood experience, and his future plans

This month, we look at the story of the man who defied the odds in 2019 and currently still remains the FIFAe World Champion: Mohammed ‘MoAuba’ Harkous.

The Journey of MoAuba to World Champion

Mohammed ‘MoAuba’ Harkous, FIFAe World Champion. Those words would have sounded like a dream to a man who first burst on the scene in 2017, qualifying for the FIFA Interactive World Cup (now known as the FIFAe World Cup) for the first time. That time, he narrowly missed out on a place in the semi-finals to his German countryman Timo ‘TimoX’ Siep. 

Again, he fought back in 2018, qualifying for the FIFAe World Cup yet again, but failing again at the same quarter-final stage - this time to Stefano Pinna in a heartbreaking 6-5 loss. The next year, at the FIFAe World Cup 2019, it was by no means a walk in the park. Infact, Mohammed (known more widely as Mo) only qualified out of the Group Stage narrowly on goal difference. 

MoAuba dispatched Stefano Pinna and FIFAe Nations Cup champion Corentin ‘Maestro’ Thuillier in the quarter-final and semi-final respectively, setting up a console final with Nicolas. An open tie that finished 5-5 had to be settled by penalties, in which Mo prevailed 4-3. On the other side of the bracket, Msdossary had comfortably won to set up a grand final in which the Saudi Arabian was heavily favoured.  

After finishing Msdossary’s preferred Xbox leg 1-1, Mo and the crowd behind him had started to believe that the miracle win was possible. Two early goals for Mo in the second leg gave him the belief to see out the result, and he went on to seal the deal and become Germany’s first-ever FIFAe World Cup Champion.

Mo’s enthusiasm, strength and aspirations

“My goal is to be in the [FIFAe] World Cup. It’s not easy to be there, but when I am there, I always finish well. It’s really difficult to be one of the 32 players. I hope I will be there this year,” explains Mo. “The FIFAe Club World Cup is really important to me as well, but the FIFAe Nations Cup is very difficult for me now. There are like 25 great [German] players, and I have to be one of the two best. It’s a goal, but I’ll focus on my performance in the tournaments and hopefully, I can be there.”

Mo attributes his biggest strength to his mindset. “I think my biggest strength is my head. I’m very calm, even in big games, I am not nervous. I’m happy to play big games. That’s why I play well in the World Cup, because every player is nervous and doesn’t play his game. I’m really happy to play well in front of a lot of people. It is important to be happy to have the opportunity to play in the World Cup. There are millions of other FIFA players that would want to be there where you are. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Despite the postponements, Mo’s enthusiasm for playing in the big competitions has not faded. “I miss the events a lot. It feels good to still be the reigning champion, when I didn’t qualify last year and it didn’t happen, of course, I was happy [to remain the champion], but it will be better when I win my second world championship. Winning it was important for my career. It is the goal of every FIFA player. You can win 25 small cups, but they would all change it for a [FIFAe] World Cup, you can ask Tekkz about it!”

From the controllers to The Best FIFA Football Awards™

“Esports changed my life. Before it, I was a nobody, and now the people know me, I have met so many cool people,” explains Mo, pointing to his posters on his wall with pictures of himself meeting Jürgen Klopp, Kylian Mbappé, and Lionel Messi. “I think the coolest thing is that I was a fanboy of Klopp, and he saw me and said ‘Oh, MoAuba, I always talk with my sons about you’ and that was crazy. I was prepared to ask him 25 questions and I didn’t get to ask him one because he was so interested in me. That was amazing.”

“Going to the [The Best FIFA Football Awards], that was one of the best things in my life. When you see the biggest stars of football, whom I all love, it’s amazing. It was cooler that Klopp, Mbappé and Frenkie de Jong knew who I was than taking the picture with Lionel Messi because I couldn’t really speak to him. In the gala, I was in the first row, with Sergio Ramos and Puyol, and I was thinking ‘they don’t know me and I’m here, I wonder what they think of me’, it was just a bit crazy for me, but an amazing day.”

“I support Liverpool because of Klopp, I think how he is as a person is the most important to me. He loves to win, I love his mentality and character,” explains Mo, “but my favourite club is VfL Bochum, I watch every game at the stadium. I also have a soft spot for Werder Bremen, since I played for them for some time. I also watch a lot of basketball, which isn’t so good for me because it takes a lot of my sleep away, but when we were in New York and Atlanta for a tournament I managed to catch a couple of games. Every time out there [watching the games] it’s like a show,” jokes Mo.

Mo’s personal life and childhood story

Mo explains to us how grateful he is to call Germany home, after a terrifying experience in his parents’ homeland of Lebanon. “I grew up in Bochum, in Germany, every topic is football and FIFA, and playing football yourself on the pitch. It is my life. I was born here, but my parents are from Lebanon. The last time I went, there was the beginning of a war when I was nine years old. They bombed the airport so I had to drive back in the car to Germany. When I think back, it was a very crazy time. I heard in the night some bombs going off, but I was lucky. It made me very happy to live in Germany.”

“Family is a big part of my life,” continues Mo, “I am 24 and I still live at home with my mother and my sisters. I like to be in contact with them and be a big brother and a good son to them. They encouraged me to play more and practice more to earn good money,” but Mo explains that it is not all plain sailing in terms of his happiness. “I’m a difficult guy. A lot of the time, I try to be happy and funny, but of course, I also have some moments where I am upset because not every game goes my way. Sometimes I need time to think on my own, but most of the time, I try to be there for them. I had a tough time during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was difficult for me to win online tournaments,” explains Mo.

Someone that Mo can rely on all the time is his partner, who he credits with knowing everything about him; helping him with the bad moments and enjoying the good ones. “The only person that supported me the most from the beginning is my girlfriend. She knows everything about FIFA, she knows when I can score goals or when my defence is not so good. She started with me when I was not even a FIFA pro, I have been with her now for 7 or 8 years, she’s important to me and wants the best for me. My future goals are to buy a house, marry, and have kids,” Mo claims, with a cheeky smile and a twinkle in his eye.

“It’s not easy to say when you’re finished. I feel like a grandfather when I play FIFA. There are some good players who are 16, but there are some that play until 29, 30, so I’ll try to do my best until then. I think the thing I see myself doing [after FIFA] is having a restaurant and managing it. I love to eat Arabic and Italian cuisine.”

“I think my biggest achievement is supporting my family. The money helped to pay for things. For me, it was normal and not a big thing to give back to them, but I would also expect the same of my son if he won! As a culture, family is the biggest thing. Your parents try to guide you into being the best person for eighteen or nineteen years, so when you can give something back, you have to do it.”

MoAuba is certainly not done yet with the FIFA esports scene; he comes across like he has some unfinished business still to attend to. When the offline tournaments return, you can be sure that he will do everything to be there to make an impression on some of the scene’s young rising talent.