Inside FIFA's goldrush: How players are making serious money

The world’s greatest football players gathered in London last month at The Best FIFA Football Awards. Among them was an 18 year old man from Saudi Arabia named Mosad Aldossary, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Luka Modric and Sergio Ramos.

He wasn’t up for an award, but he’s most certainly at the top of his game. ‘Msdossary,’ as he’s known in the esports world, won the FIFA eWorld Cup at the O2 Arena in London in August.

From that one tournament alone, he bagged $250,000 (£191,000), but Msdossary isn’t the richest or the most famous of FIFA players out there. Not by a longshot.

That accolade goes to the FIFA YouTubers and Twitch streamers. Our parents told us to stop playing video games all day, but these are the people who didn’t listen. Now, they’re making serious money.

That’s not a reason to quit school and sit in front of the PlayStation or Xbox all day though. These young stars of the Internet are very good at what they do, whether it’s simply playing FIFA or writing and editing videos. They’re also incredibly good at self promotion.

Take KSI, real name Olajide Olatunji, as an example, one of the most famous British YouTubers. He started out on YouTube in 2011. He now has nearly 20 million subscribers and his videos have achieved over 4 billion views. These days, his occupation is listed on Wikipedia as: ‘YouTuber, rapper, video game commentator, comedian, actor, amateur boxer.’

He’s released rap albums. He’s starred in a movie. You may have seen his fight with fellow YouTuber Logan Paul, which had over one million pay per view buys, and many more millions watched it online afterwards.

KSI reportedly earns £2.9 million per year from sponsorships, merchandise sales, and advertising revenue, and it was FIFA which made him famous. Going from making small goal and skill move highlight videos, to comedy skits, including a period of controversy - something which it seems is becoming a norm for the Internet’s biggest names (see: Logan Paul) - KSI is now a global superstar.

He’s part of a group of YouTubers called the Sidemen, most of whom also made a name for themselves playing FIFA and other video games. Four of them live in a luxury mansion, complete with roof terrace, gym, swimming pool, and a huge garden. They drive cars like Lamborghinis, Audis, and Aston Martins.

The likes of Msdossary and Spencer ‘Gorilla’ Ealing, last year’s FIFA World Champion, are extremely good at FIFA, and it’s a full time job to be this good. Esports pros are signed to teams, and the best players are on big contracts.

Msdossary won £200,000 from the FIFA eWorld Cup, but that was just one tournament, there are many more throughout the year. Gorilla had a pretty disappointing year by his standards, but he still took home over £30,000 in prize money alone.

It’s also a full time job being a successful YouTuber. A video which is just a few minutes long might take hours, or even days to film and edit.

And people love watching them do it. Whether they’re watching Gorilla streaming his top tier FIFA play, or watching Harry ‘wroetoshaw’ Lewis opening packs of players in FIFA Ultimate Team, it’s a form of entertainment.

Just like people tune in to watch Lionel Messi run rings around his opponents, they’ll load up a Twitch stream to watch top FIFA players do the same thing. Just like people tune in to watch a comedy sketch show on TV, they’ll load up a YouTube video and watch a FIFA player joke around with their audience.

Now, the Premier League and EA Sports have teamed up to introduce the ePremier League. The best FIFA players in the country will have the chance to represent the real world clubs, and earn money doing it. More avenues for players to earn money doing the thing they love are opening up all the time.

However, you don’t have to be famous to earn money playing FIFA. You don’t even have to be that good at the game.

Game makers EA Sports are firmly against the practice, but there are ways you can earn real world money by selling your Ultimate Team coins on the FIFA black market. It’s big business, and although EA try to combat it, it’s almost impossible.

These are websites out there where you can buy coins to add to your FIFA account. There are also websites where you can sell coins. If you’re lucky enough to pack a Cristiano Ronaldo, an Icon, or another extremely rare card, most people would use them in game.

Others might sell them on the FIFA auction house, and then offload the huge amount of coins for real world cash. You can even sell your entire FIFA account on eBay if you’re done with it. You’re not going to become a millionaire this way, but it’s pretty easy to make a profit if you’re willing to bend and break some rules.

But to make the big money, you’re going to have to put in the time, the dedication, and maybe get a bit lucky along the way.