How a Fifa game turned an Arizona resident into a West Brom fan

Supporting a Championship club from the other side of the Atlantic can be a lonely experience.

When he tells friends which team he follows, he is often met with puzzled looks.

“They either look at me like, ‘what is that, I’ve never heard of that club’, or the people who do know of it, they just laugh at me,” he said.

“They’re like, ‘Dude, why don’t you just support Liverpool or Man City or someone like that?’

“I’m like, ‘no man, it’s West Brom all the way’.”

Being a fan also means setting an early alarm clock. Matchdays often begin at 04:00 or 05:00 local time so he can follow games live.

“Which, you know, is pretty hard, but when you like a team, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” he said.