Student crowned Barnsley FC’s first official Esports player

Barnsley Sixth Form College student, Caleb Beardsall, has been named as Barnsley FC’s first official Esports player and will represent the Reds within the FIFA ePremier League.

Caleb, 18, who has been playing FIFA for over 10 years, was the winner of the College’s Esports FIFA tournament after winning eight matches including one against the Reds’ Chief Executive Officer, Khaled El-Ahmad.

“As a massive Barnsley FC fan I’m really excited to represent the Club.”

The ePremier League tournament, played using the annual FIFA game, has been held each year since 2019 and is open to UK players aged 16 and over, plus any Club-signed professional gamers. The finals, which reached more than 22 million fans over the last two seasons, will be broadcast on Sky Sports, Premier League channels and the EA SPORTS FIFA Twitch channel.

Caleb, a current English Literature, Film Studies and Media Studies student said: “As a massive Barnsley FC fan I’m really excited to represent the Club. It was great to meet Khaled and beat him 2-1 in our game. I was really nervous during the tournament, but now I’m buzzing to get started. The College’s and Barnsley Griffins’ facilities are amazing, I definitely felt like I was part of an Esports tournament.”

Enzo Guarini, Esports Course Leader at Barnsley College, added: “Caleb has worked really hard during the tournament. He’s a young man who absolutely loves football and has done well in the classroom. Caleb has a real opportunity to progress within Esports and we wish him all the very best.

“Furthermore, this collaboration and partnership highlights our excellent Esport provision and facilities. Both the College and Barnsley FC are excited at the prospect of this partnership and intend to collaborate on future projects not only to promote Esports, but health and wellbeing.”