UK FIFA player Tom “Hashtag Tom” Leese has won the latest ePremier League.
Tom was representing Watford in the tournament and beat Bournemouth’s Marc “MarcMarleyyy” Marley 2-1 in a close-fought grand final.
Marc had previously knocked out Fnatic’s Donovan “Tekkz” Hunt 5-3 in the Xbox One final, who was representing Liverpool. Tekkz won the first ePremier League last year.
It’s a bittersweet irony for Watford to win the virtual tournament, given they’ve been relegated in the physical Premier League.
Tom took £20,000 in prize winnings, while runner-up Marc left with £10,000.
Hashtag Tom – who is signed to Hashtag United – said: “I’ve spent all year coming second, coming third… now to actually win something, it doesn’t feel real!
“At Hashtag we’ve been in pursuit of a trophy all year. We felt we had hard luck and had to bounce back. I said to them there’s no way we finish FIFA 20 without winning something.
“I’m so happy. And this didn’t just happen – a lot of work went into this. It means a lot for me, it means a lot for the club and I’m very very happy I could do this for them.”
As well as Hashtag United and Watford, Hashtag Tom also plays for England (as does Tekkz). The pair recently taking part in the eFootball Play x Unite 2020 FIFA tournament.
The UK has an abundance of FIFA esports talent, with many players emerging and going pro over the years. It’s without doubt one of the UK’s best esports titles in terms of both raw talent and accolades.
Most of the players in the ePremier League are British, with all 20 Premier League football clubs taking part in the esports competition.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
