City’s ePremier League champions Matias Bonanno and Jafonso have both qualified for the 2027 FC Pro Open, with the latter securing his place last weekend at the Global Qualifiers.
But that wasn’t the only City presence at the FC competition, with a familiar face on the panel at the event.
Kacee is a lifelong City fan and her connection with the Club goes much deeper. An esports and football fanatic since she was little, the FC pundit and presenter saw her two worlds collide in 2022 when she joined City as a content creator.
Since then, she’s had opportunities she never could have imagined of happening.
“So I worked for Chicago Fire, the MLS team for six years and I was manager of Marketing and esports where I signed all the players and that sort of thing,” began Kacee.
“So that’s how I dipped my toe into the esports space, but I’ve been playing video games my entire life.
“Then COVID hit and I started streaming on Twitch and began to make my own content. From there I eventually quit my full-time job and signed with City!
“It was crazy because quitting your full-time job is a very scary task. But you have to kind of jump in headfirst.
“People ask me ‘are you a City fan because you work for them or are you a City fan because you’re actually a fan?’
“And I tell them no they signed me because I’m a City fan and so it just made a lot of sense. It felt organic, authentic and I’m just so grateful to have been working with City for four years.
“Getting to go to Asia was really fun,” Kacee continued when asked about her favourite moment in her dream job.
“And I also hosted the New York watch party when we won the Champions League.”
Born and raised in Chicago, Kacee still resides in her hometown but often travels the globe for her work, including regular trips to what she calls her second home, Manchester.
And it’s a place that shares a lot of similarities to Chicago, perhaps a reason as to why she has connected to City so deeply.
“I’m really stubborn, so I’m like a for life type of person and so once I decided that Manchester City was my team, I knew they would be my team for the rest of my life,” said Kacee on why she is a Blue.
“Since then I’ve watched every single game, whether it’s 6am or 2pm, I’m there.
“My love for City all started with Pep. I watched him at Barcelona, watched him at Bayern, and I really love the way this guy thinks. I love how different he is. I’m an Aquarius and I always think very differently, and I feel like he fits into that. He’s not afraid to go outside of the box and that’s exactly how I feel like I approach life every single day.
“And so I just loved him. Also loved players like Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure, Kevin De Bruyne, that sort of thing. And so adding all that together, I was like, this team is for me.”
Kacee is also a huge fan of the Women’s team, with the added perk of a familiar face in the squad.
“So on the women’s side, I was super proud of all the work that they put in last season. I’m trying to say this unbiased, I think we go back-to-back. I think that we have such great talent on the women’s side and I’m excited that we’re back in the Champions League as well.
“It’s going to be tough, there’s a lot of competition. I recently watched their game against Real Madrid and they were able to get a draw there, which was great. So I honestly think that we could have a lot of success both in the Champions League and WSL this year. And so I’m excited to see, I’m especially excited to see Bunny Shaw score some more goals!”
And on the similarities between the two cities, Kacee added: “Chicago is the home of the blues. We have a great hip hop scene, the rap scene from there as well. And so I think there’s a lot of similarities. Chicago is also known for its architecture. We have an amazing architecture tour along the river as well. So if anyone ever comes and visits Chicago, definitely take that.
“Chicago’s got that second city vibe in the US. and I kind of feel like Manchester kind of has that as well. It’s got a lot of grit. It’s got a lot of heart, like hardworking people in both cities. And I love that about both of them. And so I see a lot of similarities between the two cities.”
It would be an understatement to say Kacee is a pioneer for females in esports. She was the first content creator to be signed by an MLS outfit before joining City in 2022.
And she’s used that platform to become one of the most knowledgeable and enjoyable pundits on the FC competitive stage.
But Kacee admitted her analysis of the franchise, pro players and the ability to present are all qualities she’s developed over time, with the support of Man City Esports.
“I wasn’t always comfortable in front of a mic, especially in front of a large group of people. I would consider myself growing up to be a shy person,” Kacee admitted.
“So the fact that I’m able to go in front of a group of, I hosted a watch party in Chicago, it was City versus United in a massive ballroom with hundreds of people and just me on the mic.
“The fact that I’m able to do that, I can attribute to Man City because they put me right in front of a camera and I just like learned as I went on.
“They gave me the confidence to be able to speak in front of a bunch of people and have the confidence to speak eloquently and doing all that. So it’s only gotten better.
“I do a bunch of research. Not everyone is like that, but I feel like I work best when I’m completely informed. Like if you saw my notes, I work hours and hours and hours on my notes.
“And I know that real football pundits do the same exact thing and they have extensive notes, but I spend hours and hours on that sort of thing.
“And so at any point, I’m able to just bring up stats and make sure that everyone who’s watching is fully informed about every single player that’s playing. The in-game items as well, making sure that they’re knowledgeable about those. And so, the research goes on for days.”
And on the added excitement of commentating on City’s FC pro players on a regular basis, Kacee added:
“It’s very helpful that obviously the Man City Esports players do well in every competition. It is hard to be unbiased because on the inside I’m like screaming and of course rooting for one side over the other. But it is a lot of fun because we become invested in these players, right?
“We want them to succeed and win every tournament. Luckily, especially in the ePremier League, we’ve had a lot of success in the past couple years and so it’s easy to root for them in the end. I will say when I do predictions live on broadcast, I’m always predicting City to win, but that’s fair because they’re going to win anyway.
So it’s a lot of fun having them in the competition because they’re everywhere as well. We have so many great players competing all over the world.”
Finally, Kacee provided words of wisdom for anyone looking to follow in her hugely successful footsteps.
“I would say just do it anyway, whether or not you are the only woman there. You might stick out and you might hear a lot of background chatter but ignore it.
“There’s always going to be background chatter no matter what. You belong there for a reason. And some people might say, oh, you’re hired there because you’re a woman. No, you’re hired there because you’re good at your job. You’re hired there because you have the knowledge, you have the assets to be in that position. And so just back yourself and you deserve to be in that position.
