The crashed FIFA World Champion

During the FIFA19 World Cup in early August, Kai “deto” Wollin (30) already has a busy schedule. However, virtual duels at the top tournament are not included.

The Dortmund player could not qualify as the 109th player in the PlayStation world ranking. Instead, Wollin, who became world champion in 2011, 2012 and 2017, has photo and interview dates for the new jersey collection of the gamers of his club Manchester City.

deto” sees most of the reason for his career-low in himself. While other gamers invested between 2000 and 5000 Euros in their virtual squad at the start of the season at the end of September last year, Wollin only loosened up around 600 Euros. Too little to hire superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo or the Brazilian namesake Ronaldo.

“I misjudged myself and thought that my talent was sufficient,” he says, adding: “The leap between FIFA18 and FIFA19 was greater than expected. Real money plays a much more important role than in the previous version. Also, the rewards for the top 100 finishes were better. Ronaldo and Co. were partly given in packs.”

The result: When Wollin had finished his squad, it was already clear that he would miss the World Cup and other top events. In the tournament calendar, he only took part in the “Gfinity Elite Series” at the beginning of December and in the “FUT Champions Cup” in the middle of February. The sobering result: two preliminaries and only 1400 Euro prize money.

He doesn’t believe that “deto”, who at 30 years of age is one of the veterans of the scene, is too old. Wollin: “Of course the hand-eye coordination gets worse with increasing age. But that doesn’t happen within a year. You can’t lose so much quality.”

He’s not afraid of his job. Wollin’s contract with the “Skyblues” runs until summer 2020. Together with the gamblers in charge of Manchester City, the gamer, who earns around 2,500 euros a month at the Sheikh Club, discussed that the FIFA19 season is over. For FIFA20, the “Citizens” will provide him with a low four-digit amount for the compilation of the virtual squad. With that, he wants to attack again. “I can become world champion again. The potential is still in me,” he says.

He’s not currently thinking about ending his career. Wollin: “In eSport, there is no classic age limit like in football. Nevertheless, he already has a plan for the time after his active career: “FIFA is becoming more and more professional. I would like to become a coach with a team. Whether it’s Manchester City or a club in Germany doesn’t matter.”