Diego Maradona, one of the most renowned soccer players in history, has been removed from FIFA 22. His removal is tied to legal disagreements, according to a statement released by EA Sports.
“Due to a third party legal dispute, we must suspend Diego Maradona from appearing in FIFA Ultimate Team Packs, Ultimate Draft, and the Soccer Aid World XI team,” reads the announcement, which can be found in-game. “As such, Diego Maradona ICON Items will no longer be made available in Packs, SBCs and FUT Draft, and their price range has been fixed until further notice.”
The Argentinian legend was added to the game as a part of the FUT Icon pack, which includes some of the best players in soccer history. The player, who died in November 2020, possessed a couple of cards, featuring him in different stages of his career. Naturally, Maradona’s cards were incredibly powerful and were greatly valued by FIFA players. In the in-game market, the cards of the player are some of the most expensive to obtain.
There is hope that Maradona will return to the game in the future, however. “We share our fans’ disappointment and hope to bring one of football’s greatest icons back in the game at some point in the future,” EA Sports said.
The official reasoning behind removing Maradona in FIFA 22 isn’t known, though there has been some speculation regarding the topic. In November 2021, Argentinian news website Infobae, via Eurogamer, said that EA Sports had signed a deal to the rights for Maradona with his friend and former manager, Stéfano Ceci, who apparently didn’t have the legal rights to the player. Those are supposedly owned by Sattvica, a company belonging to a lawyer named Matías Morla.
Published: Mar 23, 2022 04:43 am