“That’s when me and my family realised the gaming could be a really good thing, but I didn’t have the time to pursue it because I was at college much of the time.” ‘Enough money’ to play at the highest level Marc’s reward was a trip to see Celtic’s Champions League clash against Paris St Germain two months later. He won five knockout matches and then the final in a best-of-three clash. The decision was made after he beat 250 rivals to win a Fifa 18 tournament organised by Celtic in September 2017. Upon leaving school, Marc began a retail management course at the City of Glasgow College but left before his first year was finished to pursue a career in Esports. Though he never made it past the first couple of rounds he was able to hone his talents against the game’s top players. “I was always playing against my mates but it got to the stage that I was winning all the time.” ‘I didn’t have the time to pursue it’īy Fifa 17 – the game is updated each year – Marc, now 16, was entering the Gfinity Cup, with daily cash prizes of as much as £100 for the winners. I still get his advice on stuff and ask him for help. “We used to play against each other and we remain close. “The first game I played was Fifa 06 when I was six years old,” Marc recalls. The pair used to play on Gary’s PlayStation and compete on his YouTube channel, where he is still active and has amassed 629,000 subscribers. Marc was introduced to Esports by his brother Gary, five years his elder. We’ve spoken to Marc to understand how he has dealt with financial and mental challenges to rise to the top in the world of Esports. “That’s tough but I have to deal with it.” “You go through a period of three weeks when you can’t do any of this because you are practising for a big tournament. “I like to go out with my pals to the pub and to football,” Marc says. Marc Marley.Īt heart, he is a sociable person and enjoys the weekly treat of seeing his beloved Celtic in action. Marc lives with his mum in North Lanarkshire and every day spends hours in his bedroom perfecting his game. Isolation has also been a big challenge, particularly during lockdown. Being a free agent for so long was hard, not having a salary coming in.” “I spoke to my mum and brother about it a lot. “It was hard to put it to the back of my mind when I was against players on big contracts,” Marc says. This lasted until September 2021 when he finally signed a deal with Ellevens Esports, owned by Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale. While players he was consistently outperforming were earning relatively lucrative contracts with Esports teams, Marc was feeding off scraps. Marc has been Scotland’s top Fifa player in 2019, 20 and is only the third person to qualify for the ePremier League grand finals three years in a row. Marc left college to become a full-time gamer when he was 17.įour years later the Scot became the UK’s top-ranked Fifa 21 player with a European ranking of 14th.īut the 21-year-old admits reaching this stage has involved a tough journey. Marc Marley has spoken of fighting rejection and mental health challenges to become the UK’s top Fifa 21 competitor. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across.
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