FIFA 23 has the exclusive on Italian super club Juventus after a three-year stint at football rival PES / eFootball.
EA Sports announced it’s signed an exclusive, multi-year partnership with the Old Lady, which sees Juventus return to the FIFA fold with full in-game integration that includes Juventus’ official club logo and kits and the rights to the Juventus Stadium, Allianz Arena.
There’s more: former footballer and Juventus legend Claudio Marchisio is in FIFA 23 as a FUT Hero card for use in Ultimate Team.
FIFA 23 ‘Juventus is Back’ trailer.
In 2019, Konami raised eyebrows when it announced PES 2020 had Juventus as a genuine exclusive team, forcing FIFA to use fake club Piemonte Calcio instead.
Konami and PES – now the embattled eFootball – have struggled to compete with EA Sports when it comes to football licences for years now. EA Sports retains a vice-like grip over crucial licences such as that for the Premier League, and now its stranglehold over the Italian topflight has tightened further.
Indeed, in eFootball only five Serie A teams are currently licensed: Juventus, Napoli (from the start of next season), Atalanta, AS Roma and Lazio. That leaves 15 teams unlicensed. Well, 16 from the launch of FIFA 23 in September, when you can scrub Juventus from the shortlist.
FIFA 23 is of course EA’s final FIFA-titled football game – from next year it’ll be called EA Sports FC. Check out our FIFA 23 gameplay preview for more.
