Marc Marley has spoken of fighting rejection and mental health challenges to become the UK’s top Fifa 21 competitor.
Marc left college to become a full-time gamer when he was 17.
Four years later the Scot became the UK’s top-ranked Fifa 21 player with a European ranking of 14th.
But the 21-year-old admits reaching this stage has involved a tough journey.
Marc has been Scotland’s top Fifa player in 2019, 2020 and 2021 and is only the third person to qualify for the ePremier League grand finals three years in a row.
While players he was consistently outperforming were earning relatively lucrative contracts with Esports teams, Marc was feeding off scraps.
This lasted until September 2021 when he finally signed a deal with Ellevens Esports, owned by Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale.
“It was hard to put it to the back of my mind when I was against players on big contracts,” Marc says.
“I spoke to my mum and brother about it a lot. Being a free agent for so long was hard, not having a salary coming in.”
Isolation has also been a big challenge, particularly during lockdown.
At heart, he is a sociable person and enjoys the weekly treat of seeing his beloved Celtic in action.
“I like to go out with my pals to the pub and to football,” Marc says.
“You go through a period of three weeks when you can’t do any of this because you are practising for a big tournament.
“That’s tough but I have to deal with it.”
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.
‘I was winning all the time’
Marc was introduced to Esports by his brother Gary, five years his elder.
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.
“The first game I played was Fifa 06 when I was six years old,” Marc recalls.
“We used to play against each other and we remain close. I still get his advice on stuff and ask him for help.
“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’
By 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.
Though he never made it past the first couple of rounds he was able to hone his talents against the game’s top players.
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.
The decision was made after he beat 250 rivals to win a Fifa 18 tournament organised by Celtic in September 2017.
He won five knockout matches and then the final in a best-of-three clash.
Marc’s reward was a trip to see Celtic’s Champions League clash against Paris St Germain two months later.
“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
With his days clear of distractions Marc entered a series of competitions and enjoyed some success.
The tournaments he won each earned him £200 to give him a financial boost, with better still to come at the beginning of 2019.
It was then that he sealed qualification for the ePremier League grand finals, representing AFC Bournemouth.
This was achieved through winning a 16-person tournament at the south coast club’s stadium, Dean Court.
In Marc’s main event, he reached the quarter-finals before losing to Manchester United.
Though this achievement did not net Marc any prize money his exploits caught the attention of Scottish Esports team Nuclear Vikings, who he signed for in March 2019.
“It gave me enough money to keep me ticking over and to play the game at the highest level,” Marc says.
First Scot to play in global tournament
Marc climbed the Fifa world rankings to 80th but fell short of making the Global Series playoffs, which was only open to the top 64.
Towards the end of 2019, he parted company with Nuclear Vikings to become a free agent.
The split came just six months after joining the team.
Now solo he continued to improve, breaking into the top 16 in Europe to qualify for the FUT Champions Cup 20, which brought together the world’s top 32 players in Bucharest’s National Arena.
“Everyone wants to play in this tournament and I was the first Scottish player to do it,” he says of the November 2019 competition, which he exited at the last-16 stage.
Marc earned $1,600 at the competition which allowed him to explore the Romanian capital.
“It’s so much better playing at the live events,” he says. “It gives you a lot more motivation and you want to play those events again in the future.
“I was happy with the money I earned and was happy to get to visit Bucharest.”
‘To play with McGinn was amazing’
Marc might well have been bitten by the travel bug but Covid lockdown restrictions extinguished any hope of further broadening his horizons in 2020.
That spring the sporting world ground to a halt and Esports was no exception.
Come the summer, however, a charity event – The Stay at Home Cup – was organised and Marc had the honour of being paired with Scotland hero John McGinn.
“We got beat straight away but it was a really good experience,” Marc says.
“To get the chance to play with McGinn was amazing. I was talking to him on Twitter at the time, with lots of direct messages.
“When Scotland qualified for Euro 2020 I sent him a well done message and he replied with a love-heart symbol.”
The belated ePremier League kicked off at the end of August 2020 and Marc, again representing Bournemouth, achieved his greatest result to date: winning the Xbox side of the tournament to net £10,000.
Marc defeated Englishman, Donovan “Fnatic Tekkkz” Hunt, the world No 1 who was representing Liverpool. He won the two-legged tie 5-3 on aggregate.
“That was the best I have ever played,” says Marc.
The match was streamed live on Sky Sports via Twitch to more than 40,000 people.
“I don’t get nervous, which gives me an advantage,” says Marc. “It’s more that you recognise that you are playing in a massive game.”
Marc lost the cross-console 2019-20 grand final to Watford’s Thomas “Hashtag Tom” Leese 2-1 on aggregate.
‘I will be the experienced one’
In 2021, all five Fifa events on the European leaderboard have been held online.
Marc finished the year 14th in the continent and, playing for Brighton, reached the final four in the grand finals of the ePremier League.
Only one other player, Tass, who represents Arsenal, has qualified for the grand finals three years in a row.
Signing for Ellevens Esports came as a relief for Marc, who credits his link-up with agency DSM for getting the ball rolling.
Buzzing to announced I have signed with @ellevens alongside Marc for the next season. 🔥 🏴
Looking forward to it https://t.co/Bh9Ye6y1D7— Ellevens Jayden (@JaydenGroden10) September 29, 2021
He is looking forward to playing 2v2 competitions in 2022 with new teammate Jayden Groden, a 17-year-old Glaswegian.
“I was Scottish No 1 for Fifa 19, 20 and 21, and now I will be the experienced one when I play with Jayden,” Marc says.
‘I would like to have an office and a bedroom’
Now that he is no longer a free agent Marc is also considering flying the nest and finding a property of his own.
“Maybe in the next year or so I can get my own place,” he says. “That’s something I need to do if I want to take my competing to the next level.
“I would like to have an office and a bedroom, rather than just one of them.”
‘Behind the scenes it can be hard’
A career in gaming may seem the perfect job for those who spend hours having fun in front of the computer screen in their formative years.
But Marc disagrees.
He says: “It can be a dream job but people don’t realise what happens behind the scenes.
“There’s a lot more that goes into it than people think.
“They don’t know how much effort it takes to play at this level.
“It can be hard if you are not socialising.
“I am in my bedroom a lot and you don’t get much mental health support – you have to do it yourself.
“The prize money isn’t the best and the game is very inconsistent on a competitive level.
“I would have been in Hamburg this year but that didn’t happen.”
‘You have to try not to get angry’
Live events have been slated to return in 2022, meaning Marc should get the chance to perform in Paris.
So it certainly isn’t all bad.
“In my job, you get to work your own hours from home and you’re playing games, which is something so many people would want to be doing,” he says.
Marc has the following advice for those who also want to become a professional Fifa gamer.
“In Fifa mentality is the biggest thing and also developing a lot of ability through playing regularly,” he says.
“Fifa is very frustrating. The players can be slow and take bad touches and you can’t do anything about it so you have to try not to get angry.
“Patience is important as well because it’s not easy to score against the best in the world.
“I have got better at it over time. I was always good at Fifa when I was younger but making improvements comes with a lot of practice and playing the best players.”
‘Thousands watch matches’
At 21, Marc may seem young – but in the world of gaming, he is considered an experienced player.
One of the older Fifa professionals is AHugeGorilla, at 26. The average age is around 23.
Behind the scenes of my announcement video with XL 👀
Watch 👉 https://t.co/zLcZWsdlTw pic.twitter.com/1mWwSIIzAU
— Spencer (@Huge_Gorilla) October 17, 2021
“He is considered old because of all the younger players coming up, Marc says.
“There’s a lot of 16 and 17-year-olds coming through because the Fifa scene has grown in the past couple of years.
“In Fifa 17 there weren’t many household names but now thousands of people watch matches.
“I am definitely planning on doing this for a few more years because I am playing at a high level.”
‘In Scotland there may be opportunities’
What will Marc do when his gaming career ends?
“Maybe something in the media,” he says.
“When I was younger I used to write my own blog, which was never published but I enjoyed doing it.
“I’d possibly try to stay in Esports. Some people manage a team, some go on to be an agent for players.
“In Scotland, there may be opportunities on this front.”
Dundee leading the way
To this end, Dundee is leading the way.
The nation’s top Esports stars are gearing up to compete for a £10,000 prize pot in Scotland’s Esports grand finals at Dundee Contemporary Arts between November 18 and 21.
The SEL4 finals will help build the profile of the city’s Esports scene, while plans to open Scotland’s first bespoke arena are scoped by events company Northern Lights Arena Europe (NLAE).
Scheduled to open in 2024, the 4,000-capacity venue aims to become the world’s best streaming venue.
Free tickets for the SEL4 finals in Dundee are available.