• Marcus Gomes and Dylan Campbell part of a growing talent pool in the Oceania region

• The ups and downs of Marcus Gomes’ five seasons in professional FIFA

• Dylan’s success balancing full-time education and the top level of virtual football

First bursting onto the scene at the FIFA Interactive World Cup™ back in 2017, Marcus Gomes has since become a staple of the offline tournaments. 

Although never managing to win a top-level event (he did win an OCE qualifier last season), he has been to many major tournaments, including a third-place finish last year at the FIFAe Club World Cup™ Zone Finals. Gomes also made appearances at the FIFA eNations Cup™ in 2019 with Australia, the FIFAe World Cup 2019™, and also holds several top three finishes in the E-League Australia to his name. 

Marcus has represented the same club since he made his first appearance at the top level of FIFA esports - Melbourne City. It is the club he loves and grew up supporting. Until recently, Marcus used to be the sole representative of Australian FIFA in tournaments - but things have started to change in the Oceania region. 

Dylan Campbell is one of those names. He made the switch to ORDER this past offseason - a new Australian team which will allow Dylan to compete with fellow countryman Negede ‘ANezer’ Hunegnaw in the FIFAe Club Series™ - where they already claimed the maximum 300 points of their region’s first Online Qualifiers.

Dylan is on a serious hot-streak of late, winning pretty much every tournament in the back end of last season that he was eligible for, including the FIFAe Club World Cup Zone 1 Final, and the FIFA 21 Global Series Oceania Playoffs. That form has continued into this season, as he picked up his first title of the season, winning the first FIFA 22 Global Series Oceania Qualifier.

Playing alongside current national teammate Naylor, Dylan has Australia currently sitting top of the Asia & Oceania region of the FIFAe Nations Online Qualifiers™ Play-Ins. You get the impression that they’re certainly looking for titles to capitalise on a golden generation for FIFA esports in their home country.

A change in playstyle, life-changing opportunities and Marcus' 4G connection

“You can play any style you want this year, which makes it a lot more fun to watch and play, casually and competitively,” explains Marcus, which he uses to foreshadow perhaps a better season for himself than last year. “I think my biggest skill as a professional is my ability to analyse games - before and after - including the competitors. I think that’s something that’s overlooked in FIFA esports.”

“Ultimately, my goal this season is to win an OCE qualifier, make a 2v2 LAN event, and to make the FIFAe World Cup™ again. It would be my third time making it back there in my career, but I know it’s not going to be easy.”

He’d be right. This year, the competition Marcus faces around all the narratives is more difficult than ever. Alongside Dylan and his clubmate ANezer, there is a lot of talent in the Oceania region: Marcus’ clubmate Ryan Naylor won the second OCE qualifier, Dire Wolves still remain strong with Mike ‘MikeJ’ Jameson and Mark ‘Mark11’ Zakhary, and both of the Team Futwiz Australia boys Mark ‘Marko’ Brijeski and Jamie ‘Jamodo’ O’Doherty are still making waves too. 

“I want to win the FIFAe World Cup - but in saying that, the FIFAe Nations Cup™ is important too, it’s a lot of pride when you represent your country on the main stage. When it comes to FIFA, my mindset is pretty controlled and calm. I’m a balanced person, I think it’s important to stay as level-headed as possible.”

“FIFA esports has given me some life changing opportunities. Firstly, it’s allowed me to have a career in esports, and be a full-time professional player. It’s allowed me to travel the world over the last five years, it's incredible to be a part of this. Playing games for a living is really cool, but the best thing is the ability to put all your sole focus into something, being the best professional you can be. A lot of people out there would love to live this life, so that’s the best thing,” Marcus explains.

“Me and my younger brother talk a lot about FIFA with each other, I help him with his squads and his gameplay, and I owe a lot to him because he pushed me into FIFA esports back in FIFA 17. I took him to the FIFAe World Cup that year as a coach as a bit of a ‘thank you’ to him for pushing me on. Fingers crossed we can qualify for another event in future and we can go together again.”

Football played a massive role in Marcus’ upbringing. “When I was growing up, my dad, brothers, cousins, all played. I enjoyed it a lot, I was mostly a right-back or a midfielder, but I focus a lot more on the virtual pitch now,” Marcus jokes. “Family means a lot to me, but it’s definitely something you appreciate more as you get older. I’m 24, so especially when you move out, you appreciate seeing them when you can. I had to explain a lot of the ecosystem to my parents but they always fully supported me. Without that support, it would have been difficult to follow through with the decisions I made in my career.

“Some people might know this, but I actually had to use a 4G connection up until FIFA 20. I had really bad internet at home, and I couldn’t share it with my family, so I had to use the 4G connection on my phone. It was a hard time to try and be a pro player with a terrible connection - there was a lot of delay, but I was able to push through and have some of the best performances of my career on that.” 

“FIFA 20 was probably the toughest year for me though. I was struggling a bit with motivation to play competitive FIFA. I thought maybe ‘this is it’. This was a tough year for me, and I finished mid-table in Australia. Last year was so important for me as a means to bounce back and show I am still competitive.”

“My biggest moment was when I made my first FIFAe World Cup. I won the regional in Doha, and it was crazy, because I never even thought I would get to Doha in the first place, and then to win and make the World Cup, the emotions were at an all-time high. I watch it back sometimes to remind myself of how far I’ve come.”

“When this period of my life ends, I want to look back and say that I gave it everything I had and my best shot to be a World Champion and win titles.”

Dylan's mental aspect, balancing school and FIFA, and aiming to be the best

“I’m a bit more cautious defensively this year, because the game is a bit different, but it’s still very early on in the FIFA 22 cycle,” explains Dylan. “I’ve had success last season, winning three events, but I’ve also won the first qualifier of this season. In terms of results, I’m really satisfied with where I am right now, but in terms of my performance in-game, there’s still a lot to be improved on.”

“The big goal this season is to put myself in with a chance of qualifying for the FIFAe World Cup, but I’m really intrigued by the 2v2 events this season too. It’s a huge step in the right direction for the esport. Just from a viewing perspective, I’m really fascinated by how different 2v2 is to 1v1, with the communication and team chemistry factor. It’s enjoyable to play.”

“Esports has been crazy for me. I attended a LAN event in Bucharest, Romania when I was still in school, which was cool. The friendships that I’ve made and being signed to a professional organisation - it’s been really beneficial and I’ve really enjoyed being a professional player,” explains Dylan, with a big smile across his face. “I moved to ORDER this season, it was a difficult decision to make but so far, I think I made the right decision. They’ve provided a great support network, we do content and have coaches and a teammate that I really believe in.”

“I haven’t played him this year yet, but my biggest rival is Marcus Gomes. We went head-to-head in so many games, he beat me in a grand final penalty shootout last year, and then I beat him later on in the season. There’s quite a few top players in Australia at the moment, and we’re all rivals fighting for that number one spot.”

Dylan explains that he watches a lot of tape, but his favourite player is the Argentinian Iceman. “My FIFA idol would definitely be Nicolas. When I first started playing competitive FIFA, he was someone I watched intently, he remains so calm and I like watching his gameplay. He was definitely someone I looked up to. He has the nickname ‘The Iceman’ for a reason. He’s so composed. I’m not the greatest at that myself, but I try to take some things from him.”

“I have been living in Sydney for over ten years, since 2008. I was actually born in South Africa. We moved for the betterment of me and my brothers, and I’m really fortunate and blessed to live in such a nice country,” says Dylan. “I’ve got a really good relationship with some of the South Africans, I speak with Kaylan and Julio Bianchi quite a bit with tactics, as well as Mohamed ‘KingCJ0’ Diop, who competes in North America but is from South Africa too. I want to meet up with them soon.”

Like many other top level players, family is very important to Dylan. “Both my parents and brother watch all the competitions on Twitch and support me so much. They’re really into FIFAe now and I’m grateful for their support. At the moment, I’m studying my first year at university, which is all online at the moment, but I’m having to balance the commitments of playing FIFA with studying at university. I’m making sure I’m staying on top of both, even if I miss some FIFA events. I think that’s my biggest achievement so far.”

“I want to be the best, compete with the best. I have to keep going. I have to keep pushing on, and success might come to me in the future. I know I’m capable of it.”

Although these two Australians are confident heading into the business end of this season, there’s a lot more competition in the Oceania region than there has ever been - and they’ll both need to be at the top of their game if they want to accomplish their goal of qualifying for the major tournaments.