New York City FC today announced Esports Athlete Josh “Squirrel” Banh will represent NYCFC as the Club’s official Xbox FIFA Player. Banh will partner with the Club’s PlayStation player Chris “didychrislito” Holly in global competitions.
In addition, Holly has re-signed with NYCFC and the Club is delighted to welcome him back for the 2021 season. Holly will continue to be the Club’s representative in eMLS. While Banh will not be part of eMLS, he will form a formidable partnership with Holly outside of the league’s official competition.
The two will represent NYCFC together for the first time during the FIFAe Club World Cup qualifiers in December. Banh and Holly will need to navigate the North America region to secure qualification to one of the world’s biggest FIFA competitions. NYCFC will be one of three City Football Group teams to enter the qualification rounds with both Manchester City FC and Melbourne City FC trying to qualify through the Europe and Oceania regions respectively.
Individually, both players will represent NYCFC in the EA Sports FIFA 21 Global Series. North American qualifiers for this competition will also begin in the coming months.
Banh said: “It’s my first time joining a professional football club and I’m really happy for it to be with NYCFC. I’m looking forward to representing the Club in the coming year and playing with such an incredible competitor in Chris. He knows his way around FIFA and I think we can do a lot of good things in the Club World Cup and throughout the year.”
A Connecticut native, but currently based in New Brunswick, NJ while attending Rutgers University, Banh is widely considered as one of the top young FIFA talents in North America. During the FIFA 20 competitive season, he qualified for major global events in Paris and Bucharest and ended the season as the second highest ranked Xbox player in the United States.
NYCFC has been at the forefront of FIFA representation amongst MLS clubs. In April 2017, Holly became the first ever professional gamer in MLS history. Holly won the inaugural eChampions League tournament in 2019 and was the runner-up in eMLS Cup in 2020.
Holly said of re-signing for 2021 and the partnership with Banh: “I feel very blessed to re-sign with NYCFC. It’s been an amazing three years with the Club and I’m looking forward to another year of success this season.
“I feel very happy to have a teammate in Squirrel. Josh has earned the respect of all the top pros in North America over the past few seasons, and his performances speak for themselves. I know he’s a talented player and together we’ll make a good team and do our best to represent the NYCFC badge in the best way possible.”
Everyone at the Club is delighted to introduce Josh to NYCFC and welcome back Chris Holly for 2021.
