A Liverpool FC fan has said he is living every young person's dream after earning up to £50,000 a year by playing FIFA in his bedroom for eight hours a day.
Alex Shaw first became hooked on the hit EA Sports football game when he bought FIFA 12 for his PlayStation 2 at the age of 13. After playing the video game for hours on end and thrashing his friends after school, the 24 year-old from Quarndon in Derbyshire began to challenge professional players online.
When he started to beat the pros on the virtual pitch, Alex was invited to compete in an online football tournament in 2018. The die-hard Liverpool supporter became an official FIFA eSports player that season and has made a staggering £150,000 in the last five years playing online football.
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Alex has travelled around the world, facing the best players on the planet, across America and Europe, representing Leicester City, Fulham and Watford. Every day, Alex spends up to eight hours playing FIFA on his PlayStation 5 in his bedroom on his £5,000 monitor and controller set up.
Alex is one of around 40 people in the UK playing FIFA professionally for a living and thinks he is fulfilling every young boy’s fantasy. Alex said: “I think if my 13 or 14-year-old self could see what I do now and what I had achieved, they would be amazed.”
He added: “It is definitely something I know I will look back on when I’m older and be proud of and young lads are definitely jealous of what I do for a living. When I first bought FIFA and played with my friends, I wasn’t very good at all, but over the years and hours of practice I started to get better and began to beat professional players.
He added: “I have played against some of the best players in the world and this is where you really learn how to get better at the game. I sadly didn’t get placed in my first tournament in the 2018/19 season but since then have entered lots of other competitions and done quite well and won some good prize money.
Alex said he has managed to maintain a good balance between gaming and other parts of his life. He said: “I love my job but if you are playing for eight hours straight, you need to take a break.
He added: “Even if it’s just five or 10 minutes away from the screen it helps. If you don’t, you start to become a robot and your gaming rhythms whilst playing aren’t as good.
“Despite playing for hours a day, I still have a good social life outside of the game and see my friends a lot. My career is also very sociable as I’m always talking to and playing people online.”
Alex, who now plays FIFA as his full-time job, has qualified for the ePremiere League four out of the five times it has been held. He has travelled to Atlanta, Hamburg, Milan, Canada, and Bucharest to compete in tournaments which last up to three days and has raked in £15,000 in prize money.
In 2019, Alex placed eighth in the world at the FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) Champions Cup Three in Bucharest. He said: “I have been able to travel the world in my job which I love.”
The following year he placed fourth in the ePremiere League representing Leicester City. For the first four years of his career Alex also represented Esports team Hashtag United and he is now playing for Horizon Union who he signed for last September.
Alex has always selected FIFA Ultimate Team mode during tournaments as he said it allows him to add the best players to his team. When he isn’t travelling, Alex takes part in online tournaments from his bedroom playing against other professionals one-on-one, which can last up to two days.
He said his parents have been very supportive of his FIFA career from the start and he hopes to continue in his profession and eventually be an Esports host. Alex, who lives with his mum Sarah, 57, said: “My parents have always been very supportive of my career even when I wasn’t earning anything.
He added: “I think at the start they were in a bit of disbelief when they found out I was becoming a professional FIFA player. But, I think when I started to fly around the globe and get put up in fancy hotels for free with my flights paid for, they definitely got on board.”
On his future ambitions, he said: “My dream goal is to win a tournament, but this is a very big ambition as some of the players are amazing and undefeated. But I am proud of myself for where I have got to so far and with more practice who know how good I can be in the future.
Presenting could be the next stage of Alex’s career. He said: “I want to continue my career for another five or ten years and then I would love to host at the tournaments. I am happy to be in front of a camera and enjoy watching the competitions as well as playing in them.”
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