Damian “Damie” Augustyniak had a competitive season that impressed many, including himself. The Polish player spoke to EA SPORTS about his stellar year behind the controller, the opportunity to sign with Roma Fnatic and which player he is most looking forward to face in London.

• How do you feel your competitive season went? My season went great and it's not over yet! Honestly before FIFA 18 I wouldn't [have expected] to qualify for FeWC Grand Final or even get Top 8 in any FUT Champions Cup events. I improved so much over this year and I'm really happy about my performances but I still have one major tournament left and I want to give my best to get the best possible result.
• What are your goals going into the FIFA eWorld Cup Grand Final? I'm the kind of player that likes to go to an event with a fresh mind. I'm not really thinking about how far I need to go, I just want to play my best in every single match and take it step by step, but obviously when a player qualifies for the Grand Final it's all about being the world champion.
• You are placed in a very difficult group in London. What do you need to to make it into the knockout stage? Every single group would be tough but I think my group will be really tight. All eight players are on incredible level and it's really hard for me to choose a favourite or outsider. It makes me even more excited for the upcoming tournament.
• Which one of your group stage matches are you looking forward to the most? I think it will be my rematch against Marcuzo just because I lost against him in Amsterdam. Marcuzo is a great player so it would be great to win this time.
• You have been a very good player for a long time but it seems like this year you took a massive step forward. What did you do differently this year? Honestly I didn't really change anything. From the start I felt that FIFA 18 suits my playstyle really well and I will be able to fight against the best players in the world. I've played a lot at the start of the game which lead me to 159-1 record in first qualification month! From that point I started to get recognized a little bit and it gave me a lot of confidence which helped me get to even higher level.
• Signing for Roma Fnatic was a huge achievement for you. What made you want to join up and play for them? I've been interested in esports for around six years now, I've watched a lot of different games and for some reason I've always supported Fnatic. I just like the organization as a whole and [their] collaboration with AS Roma just made my decision even easier.
• How has signing for Roma Fnatic helped you improve your game? Before the Playoffs in Amsterdam we didn't really have time to train together so it was more about the confidence boost for me to join a really big club just before a big tournament. Now it will be different because we will have a bootcamp as a team just before the FeWC Grand Final to prepare as much as we can. I will train and analyze my gameplay with some of the best players in the world and the coaching staff on a daily basis, [which] will help me a lot.
• You will be the only competitor at the Grand Final from Poland. How much would it mean to the Polish FIFA community to have a world champion from their own country? We didn't have Polish player in the Grand Final for a few years now so I'm really proud I will be able to represent my country in the biggest tournament of the year. I can't even describe in words how much it means to our community, all I can say is that our community is big and we have a lot of players that want to compete at the top level. My goal from the start was to show those people that it's possible and I just hope that we will have more and more players showing up on the big stage!

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