Tired of hearing that playing Football Manager is a waste of time? Then this one is for you.
There are more and more cases of FM players who jump from the computer into the real world. Andrej Pavlović is one of them. The 22-year-old Serbian was hired as an analyst by FK Bežanija, of the Serbian second division, after sending the club… his achievements in Football Manager.
A virtual CV
You read that right. Andrej applied for a position at the club after leading it to glory in his save. In 16 seasons, he won 10 league titles and reached the Champions League semifinals.
“I don’t want to brag, but in the Football Manager universe I am a star,” he joked.
In real life, Bežanija, coached by Goran Dragoljić, was going through hard times after being relegated for financial problems. Andrej offered to help and, to his surprise, they offered him the analyst job.
“I sent them all my FM achievements and suggested I could help them. I never thought they would call me. They asked if I could come to the following Saturday’s game to see how things went. I couldn’t believe it. I was in shock, but they asked if I could volunteer to help the team, because they were in a precarious financial situation.”
First game, first win
His debut as an analyst ended in a 2-1 win over FK Dedinje. Based on that game, Andrej prepared a report, which he shared on Reddit.
“It was a short report, with defensive and attacking statistics.”
The club liked it so much they asked him to do the same for the under-21 game the next day.
Medicine or football?
Andrej has a degree in medicine and wants to pursue a career in that field, but he is not closing the door on football:
“If the opportunity arises, I would like to be a scout or analyst, roles I have always dreamed of. For now I am not paid anything by Bežanija, but I don’t mind, because I like the club and what I do. I would like to be paid by a club for this one day.”
Have you ever thought about trying to move from the virtual world to the real one?
Read also