Quick take:
- Meta has teamed up with Liverpool FC to offer LFC-branded digital apparel in its avatar store.
- This is Meta’s first metaverse collaboration with a football (soccer) team.
- Liverpool joins a growing list of football clubs that have already launched digital apparel including city rivals Everton.
Meta has signed up its first major sports brand for its avatar store. The leading social media conglomerate turned metaverse builder has collaborated with English football giants Liverpool FC to create digital apparel for the Premier League team.
The announcement comes barely a day after Mark Zuckerberg revealed via a short dance video that legs would soon be added to Horizon Worlds, the company’s metaverse platform.
Liverpool is joining a growing list of football clubs that have launched digital apparel for their metaverse fans, including city rivals Everton and Spanish la Liga side Real Betis.
According to the announcement, Liverpool FC fans will be able to customise their own digital avatars in official club colours through this collection, which will be offered on Meta Platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.
Commenting on the partnership, Drew Crisp, SVP for digital at Liverpool Football Club, said: “We’re incredibly excited to be the first Premier League club with our own Meta Avatars. This is another fantastic opportunity for our global fanbase to digitally engage with Liverpool Football Club and create their own individual club-coloured avatars.
The club is looking to leverage its Facebook and Instagram following of more than 70 million. They will all have an opportunity to wear Liverpool FC’s official red kit or the multi-coloured 2022/2023 away kit.
“Having a digital connection to the club that our fans adore – whether they’re here, near or far – is so important and helps to bring our global family closer together when physical connections aren’t always possible,” added Crisp.
Jerry Newman, Meta’s Northern European director of media partnerships commented: “We’re thrilled that Liverpool fans can now use our Avatars to express their digital identity through the iconic colours and logo of their favourite club. We’re also excited to help Liverpool begin to tap into the new metaverse economy, with digital apparel revenue that will be incremental to the apparel sales the club generates in the physical world.”
This is not Liverpool’s first foray into the metaverse and web3. The football club has launched a handful of projects in the NFT space, without significant success.
The club already has an ongoing partnership with the popular web3 sports fan engagement platform Sorare, which allows teams to extend their relationships with their fans through NFT-based fantasy sports and fan tokens.
In March, Liverpool teamed up with the leading NFT art marketplace Sotheby’s to launch a metaverse-based NFT collection.
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