It's been an incredible year for EA SPORTS FC legend Nicolas99fc. The talented Argentinian has won it all when it comes competing in FC competitions, but is still finding new ways to motivate himself to stay at the very top.

We spoke to him about competing in the eChampions League, what it was like to win LALIGA and why getting his old coach back has helped him return to winning ways.

Where did the ‘Iceman’ nickname come from and do you enjoy having that as your nickname?

“I think the nickname works because it’s how I am. That’s how my personality is. I also stay calm in my normal life, my daily life. I really like the nickname because that’s my personality and I think that’s what I show.

“This is who I am in every moment, whether i’m winning or losing a final, scoring a goal in the last minte, it’s who I am.”

How did you develop such a stoic personality and how will it help you when competing in the eChampions League?

“This just my personality, so it’s quite hard to explain. This is who I am even when I’m not playing the game. I’m 24 now and I feel like my mentality is changing, I’m becoming more mature.

“Right now, I take every game as a new challenge. I won the eChampions League in 2022, so it’s hard to get motivated to do it again. But then I play the game and I start to think that I really want to win."

What motivates you to continue competing?

“I think it’s important to take motivation from other areas. Obviously, the trophy is what I want, but you have to find motivation in other places too. There are so many opponents to face and every year there’s a guy who you might not have heard of.

“Maybe I'm playing a very young player and they want to face me to see where they’re at. On my end, it’s like who are you? Not in a bad way, but to me they’re just a player that I need to beat. For them, they’re playing at 200% because they want to beat Nicolas.

So do you feel as if there’s a target on your back in the eChampions League?

“Yeah, I think sometimes it’s hard because there are a lot of players here in the scene. I started when I was 16 and now I’m 24, so I’m watching a lot of new players coming for me. However, I’m still here and I’m still competing against the best.”

How did it feel winning the LALIGA domestic double?

“Honestly, the group stage was really, really tough for a few reasons. The environment was different, I wasn’t comfortable or confident and that means I wasn’t able to give 100%.

“I was really lucky during the group stage, as I believe if Chousita scored one more goal, I would’ve been knocked out of the competition. I don’t like being lucky so I was mad, as I practicd really hard, but didn’t feel confident while I was playing.

“I told my two coaches that I’m practicing well, but I can’t show it when I go on stage and that’s never happened to me before. It’s my first time feeling like that and I didn’t know how to fix it. Then I started talking to my sports psychologist and he helped me a lot during my career.

“Eventually, I started to destroy people again and show it in my performances.

How important was it to beat Neat in the LALIGA Grand Finals?

“It’s really important because he’s the King of Spain. If I want to be the best, I need to beat the best and he’s the King of Spain. If I want to be the king here, I have to beat people like him to become that."

You’ve joined forces with your old coach again. What brought you back together?

“Yeah, at the beginning of the season, in November, I started with Juan, who was my teammate and David, who is my coach.

“They are there to help me. Last season, I was alone, so Juan started to help me when David's season finished. I played the Playoffs and World Cup with him and asked him if he wanted to stay.

“But then, when I lost in November in the qualifiers for the FC Pro Open. I felt like I had no motivation, so I told Juan that he's great, but I need my old coach too.

“I want them both to combine as Dave is always with me, but Juan is analysing games. He has these spreadsheets that have so much data. We did two tournaments together and we won them, so I think our combination works well.”

Follow EA SPORTS FC PRO on Instagram, X and TikTok to receive updates from eChampions League 2024.