Fully appointed as the eLions’ interim coach
Professional FIFA player and coach, Akima ‘Fully’ Byron, has been appointed as the eLions’ interim coach.
The news comes following the eLions, England’s official FIFA esports team, qualification for the 2022 FIFAe Nations Cup Finals last month.
Fully started working with the squad in May to help with the preparation for the playoffs where he coached Tom and Tekkz to victory against the current holders, France, to secure their spot in Copenhagen at the end of this month.
Having competed at the highest level for over five years, Fully has worked with some of the biggest names in the FIFA community and was appointed following an internal recruitment process with the full support of the current eLions squad.
“I am humbled to have been selected as the first-ever eLions coach. After almost making the squad myself in 2021, I have been following their progress and it’s obvious they are working hard as a squad behind-the-scenes.
“After a strong first day in the Playoffs, we were all disappointed at how Day 2 unfolded, but Tom and Tekkz dug deep to get us the win we needed across the two legs against France to earn our spot. I’m looking forward to working with Tom, Tekkz and Mitch over the next few weeks and at the Finals later this month.”
Stalwart eLion, Tom Leese, said “We are all happy to have booked our seat on the plane to Denmark, but we know there is a lot more hard work to do now. As a squad we have put everything into our performances, taking each round as it comes, and not taking anything for granted which we will continue to do.
“Following the cancelled events in 2020 and 2021, the FIFAe Nations Finals have been a long time coming. The standard of the final nations is really strong but we are confident we can beat anyone when we play at our best. It’s great to have Fully come in to help us focus and prepare.”
Moving forward, the FA will be using a performance-based recruitment model for the eLions squad, rather than a one-off tournament format that had been used in previous seasons, with coach Fully, leading the initiative.
England join 23 nations globally to reach the Finals and are among the 11 qualifying teams from Europe. The three players selected for the squad are Tekkz (Donovan Hunt), XL Tom (Tom Leese) and MHaywxrd (Mitch Hayward).
The FIFAe Nations Cup Finals will be held in Copenhagen from 27 to 30 July. Follow @England on Twitter for all the latest eLions news from the tournament in Denmark.