“I like to think I’m one of the best in the virtual side of things, so to meet the real life ones will be good, I’m looking forward to it.”

The Best FIFA Football Awards™ will see the very top players and coaches from world football, alongside some true legends of the game, mingle at a star-studded evening at the historic London Palladium. Among them will be the world’s best virtual football player, Spencer ‘GORILLA’ Ealing, whose victory in the same city at the FIFA Interactive World Cup 2017 Grand Final back in August earned him USD 200,000, and a ticket to The Best awards.

“It’s going to be quite surreal,” Ealing told FIFA.com. “I’ve always wanted to meet the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Hopefully it can happen and I can get a picture with one or two of them.”

His plans for the prize money “My plan is to buy a house and I just need to get through that process. I’m not going to be stupid with the money. Obviously it’s a life-changing amount. I’ll either save it or put it into a house, I haven’t spent any of it just yet.”

A ‘home’ Grand Final “I think having it in London benefitted me because it had a different vibe and feeling to the regionals because it was just down the road. To have it in England, the biggest tournament ever, was a huge honour – to win it was even better. I think it added to the occasion for me. The whole tournament for me was perfect, and to have it locally was beneficial for me.”

The increase of interest in eSports “It’s only the start, it’s only going to get bigger. There’s only going to be more and more interest. It’s good for the players. It now opens it up to a lot more players because there’s more money involved and people can do it as a career. It’ll be interesting to see what they announce for FIFA 18.”

Heading to The Best FIFA Football Awards “To have it in London is perfect for the event itself and for me as well, just to head back down the road again. It’ll be a huge event, I’m looking forward to it. Ronaldo and Messi are the two everyone wants to meet. Neymar as well, I’ve always admired him. Obviously I’ll have to suit up! It’ll be an honour to meet the top players in the world.”

Who should have made The Best FIFA Men’s Player shortlists? “Obviously I have personal favourites from West Brom . I don’t think they’re necessarily better than Ronaldo and Messi! I’ve always liked Chris Brunt, he has a great left foot. If I was going to say anybody deserved to be in that final 24 from West Brom, I think it’d be him.”

A virtual Puskás Award “I scored quite a few nice goals at the FIWC Grand Final itself. I’ve scored quite a lot of goals, so I don’t necessarily remember all the individual ones! Any goal that got nominated for one of the best goals of the tournament to be honest. To score a nice goal is good against a regular player but to do it against someone of that calibre makes it even better.”

GORILLA’S picks *The Best FIFA Men’s Player*

The Best FIFA Men’s Coach 1) Zinedine Zidane

His own World11 De Gea; Carvajal, Ramos, Boateng, Marcelo; Modric, Kante, Hazard; Neymar, Messi, Ronaldo