Premier League: West Ham United recruit a professional eSports player (FIFA franchise)

West Ham United FC (Premier League) have recruited Sean Allen (24 years old), a professional eSports player specialising in the FIFA football video game (published by EA Sports), announced the English club, on 06/05/2016. The Briton will represent West Ham United in international gaming tournaments where he will wear the Hammers number 50 shirt. The London club is the first Premier League club to hire a professional eSport player.

"E-sports is one of the fastest growing sports in the world, so we are delighted to have signed one of the world’s leading players to represent us. We’ve been looking to sign an e-sports player for a while and Sean’s performance in the FIFA Interactive World Cup really impressed us. Sean will spearhead our efforts to becoming a leader in this field. The digital game is incredibly popular with our fans, so we are really excited about what we have in store for them," said Karim Virani, head of digital marketing at West Ham.

West Ham celebrate Sean "Dragonn" Allen's recruitment on Twitter

West Ham United have 2.71 million fans on social networks