Yes, it is possible to achieve things like this by playing Esports. PES made it more achievable. A Guy named Shifat Al Maruf made it to Old Trafford from Bangladesh via Esports. Old Trafford is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of one of the greatest football clubs, Manchester United.
Apollo Tyres and global video game publisher Konami, in association with Manchester United, had earlier launched the Apollo Tyres United League, an esports tournament played on eFootball PES 2021 for mobile. Mohammad Shifat Al Maruf aka SAMoffline from Bangladesh is one of the champions of Apollo Tyres United League.
Event Summary:
The event started on August 26, 2021. It was six days long. And after six days, the two players from the home and away teams who had the most points made it to the finale, and the top two players were both Bangladeshis. They made it by fighting against millions of players worldwide.
Two Bangladeshi Gaming Club players played the final in the expert level. These are :
-Shock The System (Shifat Al Maruf)
-Laxmipur Leopard (Niyaz Babu)
Out of them, Shifat Al Maruf’s club won the title.
After winning the final, Shifat Al Maruf represented Bangladesh in front of the PES community and made us proud.
Three people around the world got this opportunity
Shifat Al Maruf ( Bangladesh): From the Expert Category
Noorul (India): From the Intermediate Category
Dia (Egypt) : From the Beginner Category
This might be the biggest achievement from Bangladesh on the PES history.
SHIFAT AND HIS JOURNEY:
HOW IT STARTED
Shifat Al Maruf is 21 years old student lives in Nadda, Bashundhara. Currently he is studying Computer Science and Engineering in United International University. He has been a huge fan of video games since he was young. The journey with PES began in 2011. Back then, internet access was hardly even a thing in Bangladesh. People had to purchase a disk in order to play video games. Shifat was fortunate that one of his friends gave him a PES disk at that moment. He regularly played PES from 2011 until 2014. Then he had to stop playing my favorite game after my computer crashed. After the release of PES mobile version, he started playing again. The Bangladesh Pes community started a district-based competition in 2020. H managed to get a chance to play there somehow, and subsequently, he was even given the captaincy. And from there, one can enter the world of esports. However, the path to becoming the world champion after that competition was not straightforward.
APOLLO TYRES UNITED LEAGUE
Due to a few blunders, he was not crowned the tournament’s winner and came in second place. He began reviewing the errors and began training like no one was watching and he paid the price for those training days. After that, he won a lot more unofficial competitions and eventually became the national champion. Then his life took a turn for the better when he came across a post announcing that Apollo Tyres was starting an esports competition. The prize pool was so attractive that it immediately drew his attention.
He made it to the world final after a seven-day and six-night fight. He said, “I brought two of my buddies before the final game just to keep me motivated because I was so anxious. I eventually win by a score of 3-2 after playing the most stressful game of my life. I was so astonished and stunned for the following fifteen minutes. Even worse, my blood pressure dropped. My parents were equally startled when I told them about it.”
VISITING OLD TRAFFORD
Shifat Al Maruf Visited England and enjoyed live match between Manchester United and West Ham.
He also met the legend players like Lisandro Martinez, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Scott Mc Tominay, Donny van de beek, Bran Williams, Zidane Iqbal, Facundo Pellistri from Manchester United and got jersey signed by Bruno Farnandez. He also visited England for 3 Days.
FEELINGS AND GOAL
Shifat told The Esports Times while describing his feelings, “I have to say that these three days of travel were the best of my life to date. Those three days felt like a dream to me. Each day was filled with many surprises for me. The finest moment, though, was when I was welcomed by Old Trafford in front of an audience.
I sincerely appreciate Apollo Tyres giving me this opportunity to travel. They are people I will never forget in my entire life. Everyone around me, including my family and friends, is really proud of me. I Thank you to Apollo Tyres, Manchester United, and Konami for making my dream come true. I hope to attend more competitions and events like this in the future. I’m grateful. Godspeed.”
Stating his interesting goal he said, “My ultimate goal is to play for Manchester United in esports as their official representative. I fervently desire to receive that as well.”
