Members of the West Ham United squad discuss their main hobbies away from the football pitch, explaining what sparked their interest and advising how fellow Hammers can get involved. Today, forward Mohammed Kudus shares his love for gaming...
What is your main hobby or interest outside of football?
I play games, watch movies and talk to my family a lot. My faith and my religion are one of the topmost priorities for me aside from football, so I get to practice that a lot every time I'm away from football or at home.
I’m a PlayStation kind of guy and play Call of Duty and FIFA with my friends online.
How did you get into it?
It’s just something I did growing up because, as kids, we wanted to play anything related to football, so we went to the game centre in Accra and played FIFA.
We just grew up with the love of it, and for me, it's just continued.
What do you like about it?
It just gives you an opportunity to switch off and be a kid for that time. You’re able to forget all the work and stress and just switch off and be in a different kind of zone.
Do you do it on your own or with others?
I play with my friends from Ghana online, and it’s always a good laugh!
Do you know anyone involved in it?
I don’t know any people involved with gaming personally, and I couldn’t stream myself, that’s too much pressure.
Have you ever been to any big events associated with it?
No, I just play it. I don't really follow it that much.
How much time do you spend on it outside of football?
Not a lot, just a little bit of time. I like to play games, but I'm not really a gamer, just once in a while.
How good are you at it?
I'm alright. I'm not too bad! I mostly play career mode or just a 1v1 online against friends.
How much would you recommend it to people that aren’t familiar with it?
I definitely would recommend it. If you find a balance in everything, I think it shouldn't be a problem, and just make sure you don’t spend your whole time playing games.
But I think it's good to help take your mind off things, and as much as it's fun playing FIFA, there are scenarios that happen in the real-life game sometimes.
Sometimes it’s just small margins, but it keeps your mind in it and helps you on the pitch because it's football at the end of the day.
Can you share some tips about how someone could get involved in it?
My advice would be to keep on practicing and just make sure that you enjoy it, and that’s something that applies to everything you do in life, but make sure you don’t play too much!
