Teenagers are Getting Rich Playing FIFA—The Video Game

You probably think the World Cup starts later this month when host country Russia takes on Saudi Arabia.

And you’re right, but there’s another major international soccer tournament that already took place last month in Paris—except in this one players used their hands instead of their feet. That’d be the FIFA eClub World Cup, a tournament based around the popular sports video game.

They don’t earn as much notoriety as the athletes who play in the real World Cup, but the players who participated in Paris, and ones like it, do quite well for themselves.

According to Bleacher Report, a teen FIFA player named Donovan Hunt, who goes by DhTekkz on Twitter, left a major tournament in Barcelona in January with $22,000 after winning it.

While that’s a good purse, other top e-sports players like Rocky, Shellzz and FaZe Gorilla have walked away with as much as $200,000 for winning a single tournament. In addition to tournaments, some players play full-time for eSports teams that are affiliated with real-life soccer clubs.

“In France, Germany, the UK, you wouldn’t be surprised to see a player make what a teacher makes. A livable wage,” said the manager of AS Roma’s FIFA team Colin Johnson. “They don’t have to rely on prize pools. And they can subsidize their income.”

Game, er, make that, video game on!