Tranmere’s first ever professional eSports player has his eyes set on ePremier League glory following a positive start to the season. Owen “Larney” Laugharne has qualified for the pro ladder of FC25 with a 23-12 record, as he looks to build on his already growing reputation in the community.

Larney signed with Tranmere as their first FIFA player in June this year after winning a knockout tournament at Prenton Park. He beat well known pro Ragnar in the final to secure his spot as Rovers’ pro player. Prior to this, he had represented himself at two LAN tournaments with mixed results including a second place at the NSPCC Cup in Nottingham in May.

Competing in the Tranmere Rovers qualifier back in June (Owen Larney)

The pro ladder is the first main event of the 2025 season, 156 players qualify before the competition reaches its climax in a showpiece in London in February. The next phase begins on Saturday as the competition turns to a Swiss format.

Qualifying for the ladder was huge to Owen, he said “getting into it (the ladder) was a massive achievement for myself, it opens so many more doors for me and will reduce the amount of qualifiers I have to play in future tournaments”.

Larney finished 147th, good enough to make the cut for the ladder. He had a shaky start to the week before turning things around and dragging himself up the table. “The start to the week was less than convincing I can’t lie. To then go on and win my last 14 out of 15 games against seasoned pro’s was very clutch from myself and something I can be proud of”.

Larney told Merseysport Live: “I want to become the ePremier League champion. I’ve been working at this for a couple of years now and truly believe that this could be my year. All I’ve got to do is back myself”. Larney almost qualified last year to represent Crystal Palace but was knocked out in the final online round after a dramatic second leg collapse.

He’s a big fan of fellow pro Emre Yilmaz. “I base my gameplay a lot from Emre, I enjoy watching his games to see if there’s any tweaks I could make to my own game.”

Larney can only dream of having the cool head of Yilmaz’s cool head admitting he’s struggled with nerves in past tournaments. “Emre always remains calm even if he goes a couple of goals down, something I’ve been working hard to implement into my games”.

You can watch the next round from 11 am on Saturday 

 

 

 

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