'I earn £50,000 playing FIFA in my bedroom - it's my dream job'
A 24-year-old claims he's living "every lad's dream" earning up to £50k a year to play FIFA in his room.
Gaming fan Alex Shaw was already spending his free time playing online football with friends as a teen, and has been paid £150k over the past five years.
Since he began beating the pros, the die-hard Liverpool fan has become an official FIFA eSports player where he's paid to take on other players.
Alex, from Derby, has travelled around the world facing off the best players on the planet whilst representing Leicester City, Fulham and Watford.
Every day, he spends up to eight hours playing FIFA on his PlayStation 5 in his bedroom on his £5,000 monitor and controller set up.
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Alex has been thrashing friends in online football since he was 12 and is now playing in internationaly tournaments (Tom Maddick / SWNS)He is one of around 40 people in the UK playing FIFA professionally for a living and reckons 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.
"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.
"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.
He spends up to eight hours playing on his PlayStation 5 on his £5,000 monitor and controller setup (Tom Maddick / SWNS)"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.
"I have also been able to travel the world in my job which I love."
Despite him being lucky enough to make a living from his hobby, Alex admits the eight-hour stretches can be a lot and still needs to take regular breaks from the screen.
"Even if it's just five or 10 minutes away from the screen it helps," he said.
"If you don't, you start to become a robot and your gaming rhythms whilst playing aren't as good."
Alex has to take regular screen breaks in his eight-hour stints (Tom Maddick / SWNS)Alex has qualified for the ePremiere League four out of the five times it has been held, travelling to Atlanta, Hamburg, Milan, Canada, and Bucharest to compete in tournaments which last up to three days with £15,000 in prize money.
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In 2019, Alex placed eighth in the world at the FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) Champions Cup Three in Bucharest, and placed fourth the following year representing Leicester City.
The 24-year-old lives with mum Sarah, 57, who has been very supportive of his FIFA career from the start, and he dreams of eventually becoming an Esports host.
Alex plays FIFA for a living, earning up to £50k a year (Courtesy Alex Shaw / SWNS)
Alex, pictured at a champions tournament in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2019 (Courtesy Alex Shaw / SWNS)"I think at the start [my parents] were in a bit of disbelief when they found out I was becoming a professional FIFA player," he added.
"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.
"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."
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