Wolverhampton gamer to represent England at FIFA Interactive World Cup

It's England against the rest of the world in the World Cup - but Steven Gerrard is nowhere to be seen.

That's because Dave is competing on a games console against some of the best gamers in the world after winning a competition to represent England in Rio de Janeiro.

Mr Bytheway, of Leacroft Avenue, Low Hill, Wolverhampton, will be competing with one other Englishman in the FIFA Interactive World Cup in the famous Brazilian city on July 2 and 3.

He will be playing the new FIFA World Cup game after qualifying on the FIFA14 game on the Playstation3.

He won the place in the finals after coming 23rd out of the almost two million people who tried to qualify for the tournament, which includes the trip of a lifetime in Brazil.

He said: "You had to have the longest winning run and I had won 100 games, so I could see on the leader board that I was going to qualify.

"But for the last three days of the competition they had taken it down so I wasn't sure whether anyone was going to over take me.

"We're going to play beach football on the Copacabana, visit Christ The Redeemer and the final is held at Sugarloaf mountain."

It shouldn't have come as a surprise to Mr Bytheway that he did qualify, as when he found out he was in America, where he had been flown by a computer game expert to help him out.

The 20-year-old was in America to help work out a strategy for the game at Boston University.

He said: "I had just landed and when I turned my phone on my mate text me to say they'd announced I'd got through."

It wasn't the first time Mr Bytheway has travelled abroad to play the game

"I've been to a few places playing in tournaments before. I've played in Paris, New York, and Las Vegas," he said.

"I'm sponsored by PCM Gaming who pay my expenses and things like that. I'm confident that I can do well in Rio as long as I don't let my nerves get the better of me.

"If I can hold my nerve I think I will win."

Mr Bytheway, who is currently unemployed but said he can make a living by playing the game, said he first started playing around five years ago.

He said: "I first really got into it playing FIFA 09, it was when I first left school so I was playing on it quite a lot.

"A lot of people play lots of games on their Playstation but I pretty much just play FIFA. It's about practice really, there is no secret to it."

To qualify for the World Cup, Mr Bytheway entered the online competition, where each team was given the same ability to create a level playing field."

To top off the trip of a lifetime, Mr Bytheway turns 21 on July 4, when he could be flying home with the World Cup trophy in his baggage.

He added: "There are worse ways to spend your 21st birthday."