Singaporean player signs for English pro e-sports team

SINGAPORE — Singapore's e-sports athlete Chiang "Hibidi" Wen Jun has become the first local Fifa player signed by a major European pro e-sports team.

Mr Chiang, who quit his corporate banking job at BNP Paribas to pursue full-time e-sports in October 2017, has joined UK-based No Fuchs Given, a team owned by English Premier League title-winning defender Christian Fuchs.

Known in the e-sports world as Hibidi, Mr Chiang, 28, will be joined by emerging UK e-sports talent Reece Rusher, Louis Campbell and Remi Thomas.

In an announcement on Friday, Fuchs told esportsplus: "We have one player who is a top talent and I can tell you his name because I’m very proud that we have him – Hibidi.

"He is very professional and definitely the main figure in the whole start up but we have a couple others that we want to train and develop their skills to then hopefully over time qualify for more and more events."

The Austrian international and Leiceister City star added: "I am excited to be involved in the world of Fifa. I have been following the world of e-sports from afar and believe its growth and popularity is only starting.

"The skill levels, decision making and strategies used by the players resemble much of what happens every week in the Premier League. There is a massive community within the world of Electronic Arts (game manufacturers) and we are excited to become part of that."

Mr Chiang has been a competitive Fifa player since 2006. He is best known for winning two gold medals in World Cyber Games (WCG) Singapore (2010, 2012), a WCG Asian Games silver medal (2010), and a bronze medal at the EA
Champions Cup (2016).

In February this year, the Singapore Management University alumni became the first Singaporean to qualify for the global FUT Champions’ series on the FIFA18 Road to eWorld Cup with a record of 153/160 wins throughout the qualifying month.