Well, it seems that dreams do come true. 22-year-old David Bytheway from Wolverhampton has been playing FIFA at a professional level since the tender age of 17, and has just signed to Wolfsburg – as one of their two official FIFA players.
He’s jetted around the world to places like Vegas, New York, and Rio de Janeiro to play the (virtual) beautiful game at FIFA tournaments, and even represented England at the FIFA Interactive World Cup last year.
Bytheway signed to Wolfsburg last month, so he’ll now have to kit up in the club’s official gear every time he plays for them, representing them at tournaments and during online streams.
Bytheway said:
It’s absolutely massive for me the fact that a team like Wolfsburg have gotten involved with gaming. It was just something I was doing at home to start with, just playing my friends and wanting to be the best out of them, and all of a sudden I’m a part of a football club.
It’s certainly a magical time for David, and we’re not at all jealous of this incredible new job he’s landed himself. He reckons it’s not big news at the moment (he’s so modest), but he thinks it won’t be long before Premiere League teams get in on the eSports hype.
So guys, next time you start to feel guilty for sweating FIFA for five solid hours, remember this: Manchester City might just come knocking on your door to sign you. Probably not though.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.