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Pro Soccer Team Signs FIFA Esports Players

"In five years' time when we look back at this we'll think, 'Wow they really started something here.'"

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Top German soccer team Wolfsburg has made a pair of new hires, but they may not be who you would have guessed. The Bundesliga squad has signed two pro FIFA players, not to play on the actual field, but as part of the club's efforts to branch out into the world of competitive gaming as many are doing.

Bytheway
Bytheway

One of the players, David Bytheway, tells BBC that he will wear Wolfsburg gear and represent the squad when he competes in tournaments, both in-person and online.

"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," he said.

Bytheway won't have to move to Germany for his new job, telling the site he will continue to live at his current home in Wolverhampton, England.

"Right now it's not exactly historic, but in five years' time when we look back at this we'll think, 'Wow they really started something here'.

"Less than a year, I hope, before the first Premier League team does this as well."

The BBC report doesn't mention who Wolfsburg's other gaming hire was. It's also not immediately clear if Bytheway and Wolfsburg's actual players will ever sit down to talk strategy.

Wolfsburg, founded 70 years ago, won the Bundesliga title once, in the 2008-2009 season.

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