Quick Facts
Biography
William "Billy" Wingrove is an English freestyle footballer and semi-professional footballer. He is probably best known for the YouTube channel he runs with fellow freestyle footballer Jeremy Lynch as the F2 Freestylers, which has over 5 million subscribers.
Profile
Wingrove comes from a footballing family. His father played for Tottenham Hotspur and his cousin played for Arsenal.
As he grew older he learned more tricks and became part of a network of young football freestylers in the London area. In 2003, Wingrove entered the Nike freestyle competition in London Earl's Court, and out of 6,000 contestants, he reached the semi-finals, losing out to Hee Young Woo. Coca-Cola, O2, Barclaycard, Disney and Sky Sports have all since used Wingrove for promotions or advertising.
Solo career
Wingrove became the first football freestyler to be signed up as a professional "Football Freestyler" by a professional club when Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur signed him. Wingrove displays and teaches his freestyle tricks and skills for Tottenham's coaching in the community schemes, corporate sponsors and on the pitch for half time and pre-match entertainment for Premier League games. He has also appeared as half time entertainment for England international matches.
F2 Freestylers
After performing at the 2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or ceremony, Wingrove and close friend Jeremy Lynch decided to begin performing together as a double act known as the F2 Freestylers. They have given performances at various venues including Manchester United's Old Trafford, Chelsea's Stamford Bridge and Norwich City's Carrow Road.
Wingrove and Lynch also run a YouTube channel as the F2 Freestylers, which currently boasts over 5 million subscribers. They give tutorials of various football skills and have collaborated with various footballers including Lionel Messi, Mesut Özil, Eden Hazard, Ángel Di María, Steven Gerrard, Neymar, Luis Suarez, Gerard Pique and Diego Costa.
In 2016, the F2 Freestylers debuted on television in the United States, with their series "It's Called Football" on the NBC Sports Network. Produced by Whistle Sports, the first two episodes premiered on December 26, 2016 and featured Chelsea FC and Arsenal FC.
Personal life
Wingrove is married to wife Katie, with whom he has two children. Their daughter Amelie Iris was born on 2 October 2009, while their son Roman was born on 3 March 2015.
He is also a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur F.C.