Wolverhampton College student becomes online sensation after winning virtual FIFA tournament for £15,000

Donovan Hunt, who goes by the name DhTekKz when playing online, is only 16 years old but defied all expectations as he romped home in a major virtual football tournament.

The teenager won the FIFA Ultimate Team Champions Cup in Barcelona - despite having never competed at a major live FIFA tournament before.

He fended off competition from 127 of the best FIFA players to lift the trophy, with gamers from 20 different countries, including America, Saudi Arabia, Italy and Brazil, taking part in the cup.

His prize for winning was $22,000, the cup and an automatic entry for the biggest tournament of the year - the FIFA eWorld Cup.

Donovan said the remarkable victory made it the best day of his life, and has vowed to spend his winnings on taking his mother on holiday and Liverpool season tickets.

He said after winning on Sunday: "It doesn't feel like anything at the moment, it hasn't sunk in. I'll wake up tomorrow and it'll be a different world for me.

"The plan was always to play FIFA. I love football and I love coaching so I took a football coaching course but I sort of knew I had a chance of doing something with FIFA so I chose something I enjoyed at college and then put loads of hours into playing the game and it's paid off.

"My mum has done a lot for me so I'm going to pay for her to go on holiday to San Francisco, she's wanted to go there since she was four. Also I'm going to buy season tickets at Anfield for me and my dad."

FIFA, a football game created by EA sports, can be a lucrative career for gamers with professional FIFA players earning thousands through sponsorship and advertising revenue - with their YouTube videos being viewed by millions around the world.

Some players are even sponsored by football clubs, such as Manchester City and Roma, and get paid to represent them at major tournaments such as these.

But Donovan, who is unsigned and was an unknown heading into the Spanish city, bested all the pros with relative ease and has made his case for being the best player in the world.

He started the tournament with just a few hundred followers on Twitter but now boasts nearly 54,000 - such is the popularity of the FIFA game.

On his way to the final he faced off against the world's best players, including Kurt04, reigning World Champion Spencer 'Gorilla' Ealing and Vitality Chevrey 'RocKy' Corentin (last year's winner), before triumphing late on Sunday night against Gonzalo Nicolas 'Nicolas99fc' Villalba. He beat the Argentine 9-3 on aggregate.

After lifting the trophy he said: “Honestly, I don’t know what to say. I don’t even know where to put the trophy!”

Watch one of DhTekKz's goals from Barcelona

The Winning Goal! ⚽️👀

Congratulations @DhTekKz! 🇬🇧 @EASPORTSFIFA #FIFAeWorldCupِ pic.twitter.com/s9Lo49izM1

— EA UK (@electronicarts) January 28, 2018

His winning team consisted of the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry.

Donovan plays FIFA on the Xbox but Barcelona's tournament consisted of players from both the Microsoft console and Sony's Playstation 4.