Diogo Jota is one of Liverpool’s best forwards. He is also near the top of the food chain when it comes to esports.
In November 2021, Jota scored twice in a 4-0 victory over Southampton and celebrated his first by pretending to play a video game, sitting on the floor and wiggling his thumbs to mimic holding a controller.
To make it in time for that Premier League fixture, Jota had cut short a qualifier for a FIFA 22 tournament to go and play an actual game of football.
For Jota, video games are far more than just a pastime. He has spent countless hours honing his craft with a football at his feet as well as with a control pad in his hand.
In 2020, while a Wolverhampton Wanderers player, he was the inaugural winner of the ePremier League invitational, which saw Premier League players face one another on FIFA 20, after defeating future team-mate Trent Alexander-Arnold in the final. In 2021, he was ranked world No 1 on FIFA 21’s Ultimate Team mode.
✅ #UltimateQuaranTeam
✅ #ePremierLeague Invitational@WolvesEsports do the lockdown double!Congratulations on your fantastic tournament win, @DiogoJota18!
— Wolves (@Wolves) April 25, 2020
Esports, the world of competitive video games, is a booming industry. It is projected to make $4.3billion (£3.3bn) in revenue in 2024, according to Statista, a business data platform. By 2029, global esports revenues are expected to be worth $5.9billion, benefiting greatly from star names — footballers in particular.
There are two main ways that footballers typically get involved in esports. They can dedicate their time to building up a social media following of people who want to watch them playing a video game or invest money directly into a professional esports organisation.
Esports organisations are run similarly to some European sports clubs, with a stable of teams playing different games — EA Sports FC 24, Call of Duty and Fortnite are the most popular — to make money in tournaments or build up large audiences on streaming platforms such as Twitch. Once they have an audience, players can make money from “advertisement revenue, donations and subscriptions” according to Twitch’s former managing director Jannik Hulshoff.
Diogo Jota pulls out his video game goal celebration in November 2021 (Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Former Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero, 36, is one of the most famous footballers in the esports world. The 36-year-old has his own team now but started by streaming himself playing, before launching a Twitch channel in 2020, playing FIFA and Valorant, a first-person shooter. He was one of Twitch’s fastest-growing streamers in 2020 after gaining more than 800,000 followers in a month according to Dexerto, a website that covers esports and streaming.
In 2023, he launched KRU Esports, becoming the esports team’s CEO. Three years later, Lionel Messi, his former Argentina team-mate, joined as a partner to help grow the brand’s visibility worldwide. Aguero now has 4.8million followers on Twitch.
“For him (Aguero), it was an easy transition for his fanbase to follow KRU because he had built a connection with the esports world,” says Philippe Adam, chief financial officer at G2 Esports, one of Europe’s biggest esports teams.
KRU have expanded into the world of padel — their team will compete in the Hexagon Cup in 2025, a tournament that will include celebrities such as Eva Longoria, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Robert Lewandowski — but their core focus is esports. Across 69 esports tournaments, they have made more than $692,000 according to esportsearnings.com, a website that tracks teams’ earnings in professional tournaments.
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While players such as Jota and Aguero have made their name in esports by playing games themselves, other footballers have entered the industry for promotional reasons. Casemiro, David de Gea, Bruno Fernandes and Juan Mata are among those involved with esports teams without streaming themselves with a controller in their hands.
KRU Esports, pictured in 2021, were founded by Sergio Aguero (Colin Young-Wolff/Photographer)
Manchester United and Brazil midfielder Casemiro, 32, helped launch a team in 2020. Case Esports mainly focus on one game: first-person shooter Counter-Strike. Casemiro’s team has made more than $111,000 from 39 tournaments, according to esportsearnings.com.
Three years ago, De Gea, 33, formerly of Manchester United but now on the books of Serie A side Fiorentina, launched Rebels Gaming, who mainly play League of Legends, a battle arena video game. Two of his former Manchester United team-mates, Fernandes and Mata, joined as investors in 2022. The team have around 75,000 followers across social media and have made $77,000 from 27 tournaments.
Jota’s esports team, Luna Galaxy, formerly known as Diogo Jota Esports, have more than 90,000 social media followers and have made more than $450,000 in tournament earnings from 20 tournaments. The Liverpool forward also has 2.4million followers on Instagram, where he lists himself as a “gamer” and often posts pictures related to Luna Galaxy.
Unlike most investments, where players might simply provide a sum of money, having a stake in an esports organisation means little if these stars are not actively promoting their team.
⌨️🖥 Meu setup novo para continuar com as lives e me divertir em meu tempo livre com os amigos! Muito obrigado @HyperXBrasil, agora sim ficou nível profissional. E não poderia faltar o escudo da @CaseEsports, assim a torcida fica ainda maior! #GoCase #CantinhoDoGuerreiro pic.twitter.com/AlZh40RR9D
— Casemiro (@Casemiro) March 18, 2022
A footballer’s investment does not always have to be financial. Building an audience on Twitch and then generating money from advertisements, sponsorships and donations is another route they can take.
“There’s a low barrier to entry,” says G2’s Adam. “Anyone can start a team but there’s a massive barrier to actually being successful. An athlete who has no exposure to esports will have a harder time. Just because he’s famous, it doesn’t mean people will follow him.”
Streaming is relatively cheap but building an esports organisation that can compete at the highest level is far more expensive.
“You can take the Wrexham route and try to build a club from the ground up, or take the Real Madrid route,” says Alban Dechelotte, chief executive officer at G2 Esports.
“If you take the Real Madrid route (joining an established name in the esports world), there’s more chance that the project will be successful on its own and you only need to focus on the added value you think you can bring.
“A small team with one team in one country might cost less than £1million but then you will not see a return from your money for the next five years because it is not going to be a very profitable journey.”
Diogo Jota playing in an LFC FIFA 21 All-Star Game in 2021 (Twitch/lunagalaxy_gg)
Larger organisations have teams who compete across many games. Guild Esports, for example, enter tournaments for EA FC 24, Fortnite, Street Fighter, Sim Racing, Tekken, EWC and Apex.
Besides paying players a salary, it is common for those teams to employ large numbers of support staff, including chefs, nutritionists, psychologists and coaches. When you multiply that across squads of players, establishing a high-profile team of the best gamers can become expensive.
Then, there are the marketing costs. The face and co-owner of Guild Esports is David Beckham, who earned more than £15million over five years when he signed a deal with Guild Esports in 2020, according to Forbes.
The value Beckham, a former midfielder for Manchester United and Real Madrid, adds to Guild Esports comes from his recognition as one of the world’s most recognisable faces. Virgil van Dijk signed with Tundra Esports in 2022, a London-based organisation, and came on board as a brand ambassador and shareholder. At the time he joined, Tundra had the No 1 ranked Dota 2 team and reigning Fortnite Champion Series winners on their roster, according to Forbes.
Like Beckham, Van Dijk opted for the ‘Real Madrid route’ and joined an established organisation. In theory, attaching a huge name to a brand allows that company to secure more sponsorship deals and grow their profile, which is crucial — relying on prize money from tournaments is unlikely to be sustainable for most esports outlets.
Let’s go!!! Buzzing to join the guys at @TundraEsports as a shareholder & ambassador! Officially part of the #TundraTribe 😁🔻 pic.twitter.com/TIRD04ehvG
— Virgil van Dijk (@VirgilvDijk) August 4, 2022
For those footballers who want to transition into the world of esports after they have retired, it helps if they demonstrate their passion for competitive video games while they are still playing.
A group of Brazil internationals, including Casemiro and Arsenal forward Gabriel Jesus, often play Counter-Strike and are building fanbases in the gaming world.
Jesus was temporarily banned from playing Counter-Strike 2 in January 2024 after being accused of installing cheat software. At the time, Jesus had spent £30,000 on in-game items and eight days later, his ban was overturned.
And then there is Neymar, who plays Counter-Strke “religiously”, according to Michal Blicharz, the vice-president of product development at ESL Gaming, the world’s operational oldest esports company. Neymar has shared public messages of support towards FURIA, a Brazilian esports team, and in 2022, he posted an Instagram story showing himself at a FURIA event watching people play Counter-Strike.
“A few minutes later, he added a tablet showing a stream of PSG playing in the French league — because the PSG fans were getting upset with him for prioritising Counter-Strike over his team,” says Blicharz.
Proof that @neymarjr is better than you in #CSGO 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/7BATVz2cNv
— theScore esports (@theScoreesports) June 23, 2021
Neymar, who signed for Al Hilal in 2023, competed in a series of exhibition matches at the Esports World Cup in Saudi Arabia last summer. If he pursues a career in esports after his playing days are over, his ‘genuine’ gamer tag will be beneficial, argues Blicharz.
“The top Brazilian Counter-Strike players are friends with the top Brazilian footballers, who are Counter-Strike fans,” says Blicharz. “The fans love it because the recognition they give to the game is validated.”
But could a professional footballer become a top esports player, competing at the highest level and dominating competitions like they might on a football pitch?
“We are talking about games played by hundreds of millions of players globally,” says G2’s Dechelotte. “And we are talking about the best of the best of the best, who, since the age of 15, have received support from team-mates, competitors, staff and coaches to help them become the best version of themselves.
“It’s nearly impossible.”
(Design: Meech Robinson for The Athletic. Getty Images)