At the age of just 18, Manuel Bachoore - aka Manubachoore - is already an eWorld Champion and a two-time domestic title winner. It's fair to say 2023 has been, in his own words, "for sure the best year of my life."
The Dutchman's journey began back in 2019, where he first gained notoriety as a 15-year-old, winning multiple Blacki Cups and qualifying for the eChampions League in his second official international qualifier.
Unsurprisingly, these performances caught the attention of eSport giant PSV, who signed ManuBachoore in September 2019. Such was his age, the youngster had to wait until his 16th birthday to make his debut in the Dutch eDivisie.
Fellow Dutch eSport outfit TeamGullit swooped to sign him in September 2021, where he remains an integral team member to this day. Under the TeamGullit umbrella, ManuBachoore has continued playing in the eDivisie, this time for SBV Vitesse. Back-to-back Dutch titles would follow with his new team in 2022 and 2023, paving the way for him to represent his country at the Nations Cup.
Having found some success in 2022, most notably reaching the last 16 of the eNations Cup alongside Dani-Visser and Levi, 2023 would represent his best year yet. Qualifying for the eChampions League in February with TeamGullit, he’d go on to place second in the 2023 Nations Series Europe Play-ins Conference 2 alongside Dutch teammates EmreYilmazz, Leroy and Levi.
The best was yet to come, though, as this summer Bachoore took his first international title, winning the prized 2023 eWorld Cup in Riyadh. Beating AboMakkah, RvPLegend10 and Obrun2002 en route to the final to set up an intriguing clash with Mark11 in the showpiece contest. With nothing to separate the two players over two legs, ManuBachoore narrowly edged out his rival on penalties to seal his first eWorld Cup title – and the first for a Dutchman since 2006.
Currently ranked 21st in Europe's Global Series rankings, Bachoore has a 55% win rate for the Netherlands and will surely be one of the names to watch throughout this year’s EA Sports FC Pro calendar. He’ll also be competing in the blue of Team Gullit for another season, having signed a new contract in September 2023 on the eve of EA FC’s release.
Alongside his professional duties, Manuel also streams regularly over on Twitch using the handle Manuelbachoore_. As part of FC 24’s launch, the reigning eWorld Champion took part in the Twitch Rivals tournament, earning a very handy $5,500 in prize money, partnering popular streamer Jericho.
Look out for Manu's favoured 4-2-2-2 formation on this year's game, as well as Lionel Messi - who is his favourite player.
