Picture this: You gave your all to get into a good university in your dream country. And you did.
Then, halfway through your degree, a crisis hits your home country, causing you to drop out. You face a choice: return home or stay and try to build a life in a foreign country.
Most would have gone home. But Moises Valor chose to stay in a country that wasn’t his own, and it changed everything for him.
Today, he is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Futcrunch, a global football media company based in Liverpool. Their YouTube account has over 12.7 million followers.
How did Valor turn a crisis into what many football fans would call a dream job?
Originally from Venezuela, Valor has always dreamed of studying abroad.
Studying, struggling, and stepping up in a new country
Originally from Venezuela, Valor considered four destinations — Spain, Miami, Scotland, and Liverpool — before settling on the last.
“I love football, and the city is known for its rich football history,” he says.
He began his degree and completed about a year and a half before the crisis in Venezuela hit. The country was in turmoil — hyperinflation sent prices skyrocketing, wages lost their value overnight, and even basic necessities like food, medicine, and electricity became increasingly difficult to access.
For families in the middle and lower classes, life shifted from stability to daily survival.
Like many Venezuelans, Valor’s family had to rethink everything as their savings rapidly lost value. The plan to fund his studies by selling assets fell through, leaving him unable to continue his education and with no access to European loans as an international student.
One of his biggest dreams had always been to graduate in the UK, but when that became impossible, he was forced to confront reality and consider alternative paths, including returning to Venezuela.
At that point, his family made a collective decision. Thanks to his father’s European citizenship, they chose to relocate together — his parents and sister moving to join him and his brother in the UK.
Losing everything is never easy. Valor had to work his way up from zero once more — this time, as a bartender.
Valor (right) met Mario Joos (left), former Retention Director for MrBeast and now CEO of Stoke Twins, who attended VidCon 2024. He has also collaborated with Futcrunch. Source: Moises Valor
While studying, he had helped bar staff for a year and a half. Had he not done so, he would not have been able to move up to a bartending role.
To make ends meet, he had to put in over 50 hours a week. Pretty tough on its own. Being a non-native English speaker added even more challenges.
For the first six months, he only understood about half of the people he worked with. Some were from Liverpool, some from Scotland, and some from Ireland. The accents were heavy and hard to understand.
Then there are the hours. “The hours were long — 12 to 15 hours regularly, and the longest shift I ever did was 17 hours,” Valor says. “It was physically and mentally exhausting, but it wasn’t just me; everyone in the sector faced the same intensity.”
While working in the hospitality sector, Valor (left) faced many challenges but overcame them and remained in the industry for five years. Source: Moises Valor
Pay was low, too. At 19, he earned about six pounds an hour, much lower than older colleagues doing the same job.
Still, he saved what he could to buy his first laptop. Through LinkedIn and Coursera, he began teaching himself business fundamentals – prioritising learning even when he couldn’t afford the final certificates.
“I wanted to build a foundation in business-related skills — accounting, stock control, budgeting, and other fundamentals,” Valor says. “It helped me fulfil a long-standing desire to understand business: how everything works, how to create a business, and how to build it from the ground up. It was tough, but I felt like I had to do it.”
Valor even completed the CIMA foundation level — a globally recognised management accounting qualification with a pass rate of 70% in May 2025 — and passed the first level. He is now working toward the operational level.
Over the next three years, he climbed through nearly every role in the hospitality industry: bartender, supervisor, assistant manager, manager, and eventually general manager of a popular bar.
Futcrunch partnered with Steven Gerrard’s Academy to create unique content ahead of the Euros 2024, promoting the Academy’s mission to help children develop skills beyond football. Source: Moises Valor
The moment he knew it was time to quit bartending
On May 28, 2022, Real Madrid faced Liverpool in the Champions League final in Paris.
His brother, Santiago, the CEO and face of Futcrunch, a global football media with over 12.5 milion followers across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, was attending.
That week, Santiago managed to pay for his ticket, attend the final, and create content around it. Meanwhile, Valor was working 60 to 63 hours a week just to get a night off for the final.
“That day, I realised I was doing something wrong with my life,” he says. “The following week, after a team-building night out, I woke up and said, ‘I cannot do this anymore.’ I wasn’t in a bad place, but I wasn’t where I wanted to be. I felt I could give more than I was currently giving, so I decided to bet on something different.”
The next morning, Valor emailed his director and called his mentor, Steve. He thanked him for everything and explained that he was quitting because he was no longer happy and wanted to pursue a new direction.
Valor partnered with Spotify to launch billboards in Leicester Square and other key locations across London. Through this collaboration, Futcrunch’s content is now available on Spotify. Source: Moises Valor
Landing his dream job at Futcrunch
Valor brought his passion for operations and finance into his brother’s business, Futcrunch. His first title was Financial Controller, which meant he was responsible for the accounting.
“Santiago no longer wanted to manage accountancy, and he didn’t have time to reply to the accountants, so I took over that department,” he says. “At first, it was just me and one other person; now it’s me and three others, which shows how much the role has grown.”
As the business expanded, so did his responsibilities. Today, Valor serves as the COO, overseeing a significant portion of the operational side, with a focus on large-scale management. He handles the bigger picture — arranging insurance, coordinating large productions involving multiple people, and making sure everything runs smoothly.
One recent example was Futcrunch’s expansion into 17 languages. “I wasn’t manually checking each version, but I was negotiating deals, setting rates, ensuring execution, and coordinating agencies and teams to stay on track,” he says. “That’s the side of operations I handle most now: making sure the business is compliant, efficient, and running properly.”
Valor (right) attended the Sidemen Charity Match 2025, alongside Futcrunch’s Creative Director Ricardo Ritrovato (left) and Head of Shorts Luis Araujo (middle). Source: Moises Valor
In many ways, Valor is now in his dream role, managing budgets and negotiating partnerships with global brands like EA Sports, Adidas, Puma, and Qatar Airways.
Alongside his work at Futcrunch, Valor also founded his own company, One Operations Group. The idea came from noticing a gap in the creator industry. “Creators are often very focused on the creative process, but they also end up wearing too many hats at the same time,” he says. “Usually, they’re doing everything — recording, scripting, editing, and sometimes even handling the accounts.”
Through One Operations Group, Valor acts as a consultant, helping creators establish the right structures to build stronger foundations for growth. His goal is to provide them with the systems and support they need to focus on what they do best, while ensuring the business side runs smoothly.
“That’s one of the reasons I founded the company, I want to be able to help them,” he says.
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