Beyond the fun and games: the serious message behind the FIFA QuaranTeam tournament in which Sheffield Wednesday are favourites

But thousands of people gathered round watching other folk playing computer games? It’ll never catch on, surely? The thing is, it already has. And it’s big, big business.

Competitive gaming – or eSports – is a global phenomenon, with millions taken in prize money every year. Last year one tournament – Shanghai-based TI9 – carried a prize pool of $34.3m. Social media streaming platform Twitch had almost four million viewers in February alone, several real-life clubs have affiliated professional players and it’s an industry growing year-on-year.

Although the very biggest tournaments are centred on combat games, FIFA, the long-serving gaming franchise named after football’s governing body, is right at the heart of eSports.

Which brings us to the latest tournament to have hit the headlines; QuaranTeam.

Organised by the media team at Leyton Orient, it started out with 124 teams from across the globe; from South Africa to Scotland, the States to Sheffield. Wednesday’s Tom Delee is among the favourites.

He cruised past Cambridge United’s Chris Wood in a 2-1 win and has been drawn against Dutch side FC Groningen, controlled by 18-year-old Romano Postema, in the next round.

And it’s all raising cash for EFL clubs most heavily affected by the loss of matchday revenue in the coming weeks, as well as 25% to be split between MIND and the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fundraiser.

With real-life football suspended, Delee’s win against Cambridge on Sunday evening gathered a peak of over 3,000 viewers on Wednesday’s newly-created Twitch channel.

It’s a level of interest that hasn’t surprised him: “There are games with multi-million pounds worth of prize money, but especially with all sport being off at the minute, people who aren't necessarily interested are keeping track of it in order to keep sane!

“Then there's the standard audience that is into it all the time. It'll continue to bring in a big audience hopefully.”