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Cristiano Ronaldo lining up for Sydney FC? Lionel Messi in the navy blue of Melbourne Victory?
It might sound like a pipedream, but it will be reality in coming weeks — as computer gaming.
Football Federation Australia (FFA) has set up an E-League soccer competition featuring two professional players representing each A-League team.
More than 670 entrants have been whittled down to a top 50 and a draft is being held this week to decide on a final 20 and which clubs they will represent.
FFA has given clubs the opportunity to sign one player and pick the other in the draft — an option taken up by Sydney FC, Brisbane Roar, Melbourne City and Central Coast.
Each club will have one representative who plays on a PlayStation console and the other on an X-Box.
The game's governing body is hoping to capitalise on the popularity of e-sports, and in particular the FIFA 18 game created by EA Sports, to help grow the A-League fan base.
"We know there's a million-plus people who play the game in Australia and we want to give as many of them the opportunity to be involved in the E-League as possible and we're excited about that," FFA executive Luke Bould said.
"A lot of them learn about the game and learn about the players in the game through that product, so we really see that as an opportunity, a strategic advantage that football has, that we'd like to expand.
"We see the ability to create a league that can be followed by the fans, and potentially have some of those fans in it, as a way to bring more people into the game whilst establishing a new league that our clubs can participate in and that the game can benefit from."
Prize money and broadcast rights planned
E-League is being taken seriously, with a broadcast deal to be announced soon, and the competition to have prize money.
The FFA is working on a plan to have the overall champion, and potentially some of those who went close, representing the E-League in international competitions.
"Anyone who thinks that this is not serious and not a legitimate sport will quickly realise that's not how the fans and the participants see it," Mr Bould said.
"We're seeing e-sports coming into the Asian games in the next few years and potentially at the summer Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 so ... this has to be treated very seriously and that's how we're tackling it."
He said the E-League would develop wide appeal.
"We've had a lot of interest out of streaming organisations and broadcasters, so we're very excited about the partnerships we will announce," he said.
Knee injury no barrier to gaming
Mitch Austin is among those who is hoping his name will be called at the draft.
The 26-year-old is a professional footballer with Melbourne Victory in the A-League.
A knee injury last November saw him ruled out for the rest of the season, but his thumbs are working fine — so well, in fact, that he's been ranked 35th in Australia.
"[Playing FIFA] takes my mind off [the injury] and gives me something else to think about so I'm looking forward to hopefully being a part of the E-League," Austin said.
"It'll be another way of representing the club, obviously, with being injured — it's something I'm looking forward to if it happens.
"I'm no top professional FIFA player, like some of these guys are, but I'll play in the FUT champions league on the weekends, which is 40 games of FIFA in three days.
"It's tough mentally, pretty draining, but it's good practice, just obviously not as draining on the legs [as physically playing football]."
Growing e-sports interest globally
If selected, Austin will not be the first professional on-field player signed to play e-sports as well.
Some of France's Ligue 1 players have qualified to play in the E-Ligue 1, the e-sports competition created in France in 2016.
Mr Bould said the FFA had learned from French experience and also spoken with representatives from the Dutch E-Divisie about planning a competition.
The Dutch have been planning for the E-League for two years, taking advice from EA Sports, PlayStation, X-Box and from gamers themselves.
Austin could find himself playing against teenager Jamie O'Doherty, who recently signed a professional gaming contract with UK-based company Futwiz.
The teenager is the brother of Jordan O'Doherty, who plays in the midfield for Adelaide United.
"We don't play anymore because he gets a bit angry," Jamie said of his brother.
"We used to have close games, then I'd be winning five-nil at half-time so we don't play anymore.
"But he thinks it's cool — he knows it's the future of social media and football in general, so he's really supportive."
The teenager also hopes to represent Adelaide United but said he will just be happy to be involved.
"It started as a hobby but then I was beating my brothers a bit and then played online and started beating everyone online," he said.
"After that I played in the FUT champions league for 15 hours on a weekend, and then during the week as well.
"I wasn't getting much homework done and mum got a bit mad, but I guess there is a bit of commitment there if you want to get pretty good at the game."
The E-League season will start in a fortnight.
An important rule will be that players can fill their teams with any player from any club globally but must have three A-League players on the field at any time.
"We are playing in a global environment so we wanted to strike a balance between letting the players play with the Ronaldos and the Messis that they are familiar with, but also include some of the A-League players," Mr Bould said
"I'm pretty excited to see Ronaldo playing for Sydney FC and Messi playing for Melbourne Victory so, yes, it's a unique and pretty special opportunity."
A report by market analyst NewZoo forecasts e-sports revenue will hit $1.5 billion by 2020.
Topics: games-industry-professional-gaming, soccer, sport, adelaide-5000, sa
First posted