IT’S COMING HOME!


Matt Broughton spoke with Andreas Thorstensson, founder and CEO of the hotly anticipated upcoming football sim, GOALS


A


ndreas, please tell us all about GOALS. GOALS is a football game built from the ground up for online play.


We believe football games have slowly shifted from fun-first to realism-


first and, in the process, lost some of what made them great in the first place. On top of that, most sports games still aren’t designed around competitive online play, which often leads to inconsistent gameplay, input delay, and a lack of responsiveness. We took a different approach. We built our own simulation engine


and netcode technology from scratch to make gameplay feel responsive, consistent, and fair no matter where you play from. We also decided not to follow the fully licensed route. Instead, every


player in GOALS is unique, with their own stats, progression, career path, and visual identity. Players improve, age, and eventually retire, creating a much deeper and more dynamic squad-building experience.


Could you also tell us a bit about yourself and how you came to be developing GOALS. My background is a mix of sports, gaming, and technology. I started programming when I was 12, but sports were always my first


passion. In 1999, I discovered the Counter-Strike beta and immediately saw the similarities between traditional sports and competitive gaming. Later that year, I became a world champion and went on to co-found SK Gaming, one of the first major esports organizations. After spending a decade building SK Gaming, I moved into technology


and startups, founded several companies, worked in venture capital at EQT Ventures, and later co-founded Popdog and Loaded, one of the world’s largest talent and influencer businesses in gaming. Throughout all of this, I played many football games. I loved them for


many years but gradually felt they were moving further away from football and player skill, and closer to automation, presentation, and monetization. I kept waiting for someone to build the football game I wanted to play. After a few years, it became clear that nobody was going to do it. So in 2021, we decided to build it ourselves and founded GOALS.


What makes this different from the previous various footy simulators we’ve seen? The biggest difference is that GOALS is built around gameplay rather than presentation. Our focus is on creating a football game that is responsive, competitive,


and rewarding to master. Every action should feel intentional, and every goal should feel earned.


48 | MCV/DEVELOP July/August 2026 We’ve also taken inspiration from football management games for


progression. Instead of collecting licensed players, you’re building and developing your own unique squad over time. The result is a football game that feels fast, fluid, and competitive,


with no gameplay meddling, no DDA, and as little automation as possible between your input and the outcome on the pitch.


Why do you think this genre has become stagnant in recent times? When a genre is dominated by a single player for a long time, innovation naturally slows down. The incentives shift from taking risks and reinventing the product


to protecting what’s already working. That’s understandable, but it creates opportunities for new challengers. We’re fortunate because we’re starting with a blank sheet of paper


and a very clear vision of the game we want to build. We can question every assumption and build alongside our community, rather than carrying the legacy of decades of systems and design decisions.


What do you think of the current state of esports and how do you hope that will develop? Esports is stronger than ever, but players have become much more selective about what games deserve their time. To build a successful esport, you first need a great competitive


game. That means a high skill ceiling, consistent gameplay, competitive integrity, and technology that players can trust. That’s exactly what we’re building towards with GOALS. This summer, we’re kicking things off with the GOALS Open,


where players from around the world can compete through regional qualifiers and earn a place at our live finals in Stockholm. It’s just the beginning of our long-term esports vision, and we’ll have much more to share soon.


Do you have other plans for GOALS that you can share? We’re only getting started. We have a major game update arriving in September, alongside


which we’re continuing to invest heavily in gameplay improvements. We’re also pleased to say that a new original player will be arriving soon. It’s a legendary football player that we’re very excited about. Beyond that, our focus is simple: keep improving the game, keep


listening to players, and keep building the football experience we always wanted to play.


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