ePL: Man City crowned 2024/25 champions

Manchester City have been crowned ePremier League (ePL) champions after beating Brighton & Hove Albion in a thrilling, high-scoring final.

It means they are the first club in history to win back-to-back ePL titles and extends their record as the most successful club to three titles in seven seasons.

City retain their title

In a repeat of last year’s ePL final, which Man City won 2-1, Tekkz and Bonanno overcame their opponents by a 6-5 scoreline.

Tekkz, a now three-time ePL champion, played the first leg for Man City but conceded within three minutes to Brighton’s Jayden.

The 2023/24 champions struggled to get a foothold in the match as the impressive Jayden capitalised to take the first leg 4-2 in a performance that put Brighton in a strong position for the second leg.

Incredibly, Man City’s Bonanno, fresh off the back of a 6-2 win over Liverpool in the semi-finals, cancelled out the two-goal deficit in the first half to put the holders 5-4 ahead going into half-time of the second leg.

Marley pulled Brighton level once again as the match went in the Seagulls’ direction, but Bonanno’s brilliance shone through to come back and win the leg and the tie 6-5.

Day 2 results

On their comeback victory, Tekkz said: "[After losing his leg 4-2] I had a sneaky feeling he [Bonanno] would do it. Even though the first game wasn’t good, practice has been good for me."

For Brighton, it was a second successive final defeat to Man City, and Tekkz reflected on their opponents’ misfortune: "They’ve been really good. I really feel for them this time, losing two in a row."

Semi-final summary 

Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton were the first sides to progress through to the quarter-finals after beating Ipswich Town and Southampton respectively, with both sides drawing and winning one apiece of their ties.

It set up a much-anticipated semi-final between the two clubs in which Brighton won an exciting first leg 3-2 through Marley over Spurs’ NiKSNEB.

It left Tom Leese, winner in 2020 for Watford, with a job to do for Spurs in the second leg. The former champion scored three goals in 25 minutes, but Brighton’s Jayden came roaring back to draw the second leg and win the overall tie 6-5.

The Seagulls were joined in the final by Man City, who moved past Liverpool in the second semi-final.

Bonanno devastated Liverpool’s ManuBachoore 6-2 in the PlayStation leg, and despite a spirited victory by the Reds’ Leks over Man City’s Tekkz in the second leg, the reigning champions progressed to another final with a 6-4 scoreline.

Quarter-final summary 

The four semi-finalists progressed in an evenly contested set of quarter-final ties, where no side won by more than a two-goal margin.

The pick of the four quarter-finals was arguably Man City’s victory over Fulham, where the eventual winners won the first leg 4-0 but only sneaked into the semi-finals with a 5-4 scoreline after being beaten 4-1 in the second leg.

See: ePL results