Dutchman Emre Yilmaz first made his name on FIFA 22, joining esport giant Team Gullit not long after the game’s release. Competing on PlayStation 5, the 19-year-old showcased his remarkable potential on Division Rivals, ranking inside the Top 10 worldwide on several occasions.

From there, international success and recognition would follow, with Emre qualifying for the eWorld Cup at the first time of asking in 2022, going on to stun the competition by reaching the semi-final. That was just the beginning for the Team Gullit rising star, who took his game to another level in 2023.

His crowning glory to date came this summer, as Emre won the 2023 eChampions League – his first-ever S-Tier title. Beating the likes of Stringrayjnr and 2022 eChampions League winner nicolas99fc, it was a mightily impressive win to back up his performance at the previous year’s eWorld Cup.

Writing on Twitter after the win, Emre said: “Amazing my first trophy in my career and one of the biggest,” as well as paying tribute to his coach, Joey. 

He ended the 2022-23 campaign in good form, although disappointment was to follow in the form of a final defeat in the 2023 eNations Cup. Competing alongside ManuBachoore in a strong Dutch side, the Netherlands lost 3-2 to Brazil in the final.

For the 2022-23 eDivisie season, Emre played for AZ Alkmaar, helping the side achieve a top-eight finish and qualify for the Playoffs. Unfortunately for the debutant, AZ were then beaten 6-5 in the quarter-finals by NEC.

He started the FC Pro Open Qualifier with a loss on penalties to Young, but recovered with wins over LJR Peixoto, Dudu27 and Yuval before losing to Lukas with his progression to the knockouts already confirmed.

It was a similar story in the knockouts as he bounced back from a defeat against Bonanno with dominant victories over xcharifx and CameronRock.

That continued into the FC Pro Open group stages, as he topped Group A, leading Umut by two points following a 6-2 win over H1dalgo.