NON-FORMAL LEARNING AND KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER IN ESPORTS: PROFESSIONAL MOBILITY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF DIGITAL COMPETENCES

Abstract

The rapid development of digital technologies is creating new professional fields in which knowledge and competences are acquired predominantly outside traditional educational institutions. Esports provide a representative example of such an environment, as they combine individual practice, team interaction, competitive activity and participation in international digital communities. This article examines non-formal and informal learning and the conditions for the transfer of professional knowledge in esports by analysing the career trajectory of the Bulgarian professional League of Legends player Pavel ‘Nazrat’ Yotov. The study was conducted as a qualitative single-case study based on documentary analysis. It draws on publicly available digital sources, including official announcements by esports organisations, specialised databases, tournament archives, media publications, statistical profiles and publicly available statements by the player. The analysis covers the main stages of his professional career, his individual and team results, his movement between organisations, and his participation in national and international competitive environments. The findings identify four interrelated dimensions of professional development: individual gaming proficiency, participation in team-based practice, international professional mobility, and conditions for the exchange and application of knowledge across different organisational and national contexts. The career trajectory encompasses teams and leagues in Spain, the Czech Republic, Greece, the Benelux region and Bulgaria. Movement between these environments creates opportunities for exposure to different training regimes, communication norms, role distributions and approaches to strategic analysis. The achievement of Challenger rank and the documented team results indicate a high level of professional development, but do not directly reveal the mechanisms through which the relevant competences were acquired. Nazrat’s participation in the A1 Gaming League and the Bulgarian Challengers League shows that the Bulgarian competitive environment represents a recurring component of his professional trajectory. This creates potential conditions for gaming, strategic and communication practices acquired in foreign organisations to be applied within a national context. Owing to the limitations of publicly available sources, knowledge transfer is not presented as a directly demonstrated outcome, but as an analytically grounded possibility arising from team-based practice, international mobility, and participation in different organisational contexts. The findings indicate the need for systematic approaches to documenting and assessing competences acquired through esports and other emerging digital professions