Professional athletes frequently change their careers. It’s nothing new. Many of them have progressively transitioned away from competitive activities and into other occupations that are still tied to their passion.
Injured at an early age, Yos “Indominator” Sonneveld told us that he was forced to abandon his football career in the Netherlands fourth division football league. Not willing to give up the dream, the Dutch-Javanese player began participating in esports with Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) in 2015.
His dedication paid off when he regularly established himself as a pro player in international PES events. When he finished as runner-up in the PES World Championship 2018, he received offers from major clubs across Europe.
Indominator is known to have played for two major European football esports clubs, Celtic and Arsenal.
His contract with Arsenal expired in July this year. However, Indominator, who has recently experienced professional virtual football competition in Indonesia and represented the Dutch national team at the IESF WEC 2022, Bali, informed Ulti Asia that he intends to return to the London-based team.
“Arsenal are interested in renewing my deal,” Yos added. “There’s still some time around January to early February for me to discuss the contracts. The European eFootball pro league will not begin until February or March 2023.”
Asked about his aspirations to win the trophy at Arsenal, Indominator said he is still looking for certainty for the next season.
“If I can get a teammate that I want, I’m really sure I can bring the trophy to Arsenal next season. But in the last couple of years, I don’t have much of influence on the choice of player. Most of the time, it depends on Arsenal’s esports agency.”
Aside from contract talks, Indominator shared his thoughts on the latest eFootball 23 update, which appears “noob friendly” and allows players with low skill levels to last longer in competitive mode.
“There is no skill gap anymore in 23. There is a lot of assisted defences” he said. “In 22 you can score through many ways: you can do nice dribble or build up from the back. There’s more balance in the game.”
He also told us that he is not ruling out jumping to another game altogether.
“I’ve been playing a lot of Warzone with my friends! To be honest, I’m getting fed up with eFootball which is too competitive, and repetitive, and I have more fun in Warzone,” Indominator confessed. “I think I need to spend more time to reach a higher level, but I would like to enter a Warzone competition some time in the future.”
