Liverpool FC’s Success Can Be Traced Back To FIFA Video Games & Esports

With the new Premier League season getting underway, Liverpool FC return to action as the defending champions and look like favourites to claim the biggest prize in English football once again. They have now been serious contenders for over half a decade, winning their first title in 30 years back in 2020, and have been a force to be reckoned with ever since. 

There are many reasons behind Liverpool’s return to the top, from world class players joining at the right time to bringing in one of the greatest managers ever and a whole host of other factors. But one that is often overlooked is what happened at the very top of the club, with former CEO Peter Moore having more of an impact than many will realise. 

Moore joined Liverpool in early 2017, when the club was starting to complete its shift from solid upper-mid-table side to top four contender. For years, Liverpool had been close to returning to the level expected of such a storied club, but had never maintained any kind of extended success. Moore, while not directly involved with the competitive day to day running of the squad, was here to change that. 

While most of his work was done inside the meeting rooms at Anfield, Moore was more than just a business man for the club. He instigated a restructuring of a lot of the behind the scenes work and teams, creating a foundation that is mostly still intact today. From new local initiatives to bring local fans in to work at the club they love to expanding the global reach of the supporters network, Moore was crucial in bringing some much-needed stability and improvements to the systems that feed on pitch success. 

As an experienced businessman and a local Liverpool fan from childhood, Moore was always an obvious pick for the CEO role at the club. But what turned out to be a major boon for him in the role and the club in general was Moore’s history in the world of video games, one of the few sectors with a fandom as loyal and opinionated as football. 

Having held senior positions at the likes of Sega, Xbox and crucially EA, including a stint as its Chief Competition Officer in the company’s competitive gaming department focusing on the old FIFA games, Moore knew how to build a competitive company in a space where fans will judge every move. Working alongside countless pro FIFA players and their clubs at EA gave him many tips and tricks that he would eventually mould into his vision for Liverpool FC, becoming one of the first to translate things from the world of esports into traditional sports. 

Some were obvious, such as expanding digital platforms and investing in Liverpool’s own esports team, which netted the Club the first ever ePremier League trophy in 2019. Others less so, with a key learning from his time selling games transitioning into football; it generally costs much more to earn a new fan, be it of a game or a club, than to retain a current one, which became a key part of Moore’s growth strategy at Liverpool. 

It was these kinds of things he learnt from video games that allowed him to grow Liverpool as a club, expanding their reach across the globe and utilising technology to make fans on the other side of the globe feel like a local supporter. That in turn brought in more cash, which could be reinvested in key areas, including the competitive side of things on the pitch. 

Now, as the owner of Santa Barbara Sky FC, those lessons on fandom and competition learnt from both esports and his time at Liverpool, will no doubt be used to build a new club in the same vein. A fan first approach with systems behind the scenes that only help the competitive division is now a Moore trademark, and one that will likely be executed in the growing football scene around the US West Coast in the coming years. 

But before that, Moore is due to appear at the New Global Sports Conference 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to reveal how he managed to bring Liverpool back to the top of English football after using lessons learnt in the world of video games. The conference, which brings the industries of gaming, esports and sport together for a rare melding of the minds, is aiming to define the future of competition across all three sectors and beyond, making Moore a key fit given his experience across the highest levels of all three. 

With other sporting leaders such as Casey Wasserman, President of the LA28 Olympic & Paralympic Games and Jan Alessi, Co-founder & Managing Director of the World Football Summit, also in attendance this event is where the future of sport, and its collaborations with the digital world, will be decided. Given his future plans, it is also likely that we see Moore take some learnings from the event and implement them directly into his vision for Santa Barbara Sky FC, which is certainly an exciting prospect for local fans. 

While his time at Liverpool may have come to an end, a lot of the systems that Moore put in place are still going strong at the club and continuing to play a factor in the on field success of recent years. He may be back to being a fan, but Moore’s legacy at the club should never be forgotten, as without him there is a good chance the Premier League trophy may never have made it to Anfield. 

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