Wolfsburg Sign 22-Year-Old David Bytheway as a Professional 'FIFA' Player

It's the dream of football fanatics the world over, and Wolverhampton's David Bytheway is living it.

The 22-year-old was signed to be a professional FIFA player with German club Wolfsburg in January and will represent the club at tournaments and in online streaming.

"It's absolutely massive for me the fact that a team like Wolfsburg have gotten involved with gaming," Bytheway told the BBC's Tim Hague. "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."

"

Happy to announce I have signed with @VfL_Wolfsburg as their official FIFA Player

— David Bytheway (@DaveBtwFIFA) January 19, 2016"

As one of Wolfsburg's two professional FIFA players, he is still living in the Midlands and says he plays "at least four to six games in a day" as practice.

He's been playing professionally since he was 17 years old and has travelled as far as the United States and Brazil to compete, and he represented England at the FIFA Interactive World Cup last year.

He hopes this is the start of a major growth for E-sports.

"It's a new market for them. E-sports is growing so much every year with all the viewers it's generating. Wolfsburg can see the potential and so they want to be the first to do it," he said.

He's optimistic that Premier League clubs might start following suit in "less than a year."

"Right now [my signing with Wolfsburg is] not exactly historic, but in five years' time, when we look back at this we'll think, 'Wow they really started something here,'" Bytheway said. 

Meanwhile, he is the envy of gamers all over the planet.

[BBC]