Ex-Liverpool CEO Peter Moore brands FIFA decision as 'most expensive own goal in history'

Former Liverpool chief executive Peter Moore believes FIFA have scored “the most expensive own goal in football history” by breaking from EA Sports.

World football’s governing body has lent its name to the EA Sports-produced video game series since the first edition of the wildly popular franchise, FIFA International Soccer, in 1993.

Since the annual release of the game has been an important date on the calendar for fans, with the franchise having sold around 350 million copies over the past three decades, with the relationship delivering, most recently, $150m (£117m) per year for FIFA, just for the organisation lending its name and rights to the simulated World Cup mode to the game.

Last year it was announced that the partnership would end after 30 years, with the New York Times having previously reported that FIFA had been seeking double the amount that it was receiving as part of the licensing agreement.

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EA, who are one of Liverpool’s commercial partners, have instead moved towards the creation of EA Sports FC, with the game’s launch taking place earlier this week ahead of its release later in the year. FIFA wants to create its own rival game by 2025.

For former Reds CEO Moore, who spent years working at EA and boasts decades of experience in the video game industry, it is a decision that FIFA will regret.

Speaking to the Times, Moore said: “It is a massive own goal by Fifa and will cost them about $150 million a year for doing very little. It’s perhaps the most expensive own goal in football history, and they were