Publisher Goal has signed a digital Football professional from Scottish football club Hibernian FC, in an indication that the growing world of eSports is crossing sectors in unusual ways.

Graham 'GrayzaGoal' McIntyre will represent Goal at Fifa 18 tournaments on Xbox One, while also creating relevant content for the publisher site and social channels.

The Fifa player will first represent the brand at the Sportego eLeague, where he will face off against the likes of football clubs Ajax, Manchester City and West Ham, and eSports teams Epilson, Stark eSports and Fnatic.  Handily, Goal will also broadcast the tournament through its social channels, including the final, which is set to be be hosted in an as-yet unconfirmed professional football stadium in April.

Paul Rayment, Goal’s marketing manager said: "We recognise that for the modern fan Fifa plays an integral role in how they enjoy football, for some it’s their primary connection to the sport. On Goal, we’ve seen this evidenced in the numbers we see for our own live streams and traffic that comes to articles on the game.

"By welcoming Graham to the Goal roster we’re looking forward to adding an extra dimension to how we cover Fifa, working with him to advance his career and introduce Goal to an exciting and growing market."

Teams and brands, including Fifa, are increasingly attracted by the allure of eSports, a phenomenon which The Drum investigated last year.

Goal said it attracts 79m football fans each month.