Two Danish football legends from the 80s and 90s have been honoured with inclusion in the FUT 23 Icons list in FIFA 23, the latest iteration of the popular EA Sports franchise.
Former Danish keeper Peter Schmeichel has been awarded icon status after a glittering career which included helping his nation to a shock 2-0 victory over Germany in the 1992 UEFA European Championship. In 1999, he won the treble with Manchester United as the club emerged victorious in the Premier League, the UEFA Champions League and the FA Cup.
Michael Laudrup, who began his career at Brøndby and played for some of the world’s biggest football clubs, including Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid, is the other Danish player who can now be added to dream squads in the FIFA 23 Ultimate Team. His career achievements include five La Liga titles, a Serie A title and the European Cup.
The beautiful game
The FIFA game franchise has capitalised on the global popularity of the beautiful game to become the most popular sports game in the world. FUT 23 Icons are just one of the many innovative products developed by EA Sports in order to keep the game fresh. Other innovations include real faces, the World Cup 2022 mode and the women’s club football feature.
The popularity of the game franchise is reflected in its global reach with players in over 200 nations. This year’s edition of the game reached a series of mind-boggling milestones in the 23 days following its release, including 1.7 billion games played, 4.3 billion goals scored and a total of 15 billion minutes played.
In July, Denmark hosted the first-ever FIFAe World Cup 2022, underlining Copenhagen’s role as an important centre for esports. The beautiful game is also a popular theme for game titles in the iGaming industry, with online casinos looking to capitalise on the enduring adoration for the game through football-themed slots such as Football Frenzy, Football Glory and Football Hero. These game titles are just some of the multitude of soccer games available to players in Denmark and with new casinos being regularly added you can find the updated list here. This area is only likely to continue growing due to the attention it is receiving so expect to see the range of titles grow increase over the next few years.
Take control of Ted Lasso
One innovation which is likely to be popular is the introduction of Ted Lasso, the fictional football manager portrayed by US actor Jason Sudeikis in the Apple TV+ series. Players will have the opportunity to play the game as Lasso in Career Mode or take control of AFC Richmond and attempt to lead the club to Premier League glory. A deep dive into the Ted Lasso content innovations can be found here.
FIFA 23 marks the end of an era as the partnership with FIFA, the governing body of international football, is coming to an end. In future, the game franchise will be rebranded as EA Sports FC, although FIFA has announced a plan to release a rival video game carrying the original FIFA title.
Fans of the FIFA franchise will be eager to see how the change will affect the game, but EA Sports has stressed that the licencing deals still apply to the new game and has promised fans more innovations in the future.
If you enjoy games and gaming and want more NEWS from the Gaming World Click Here
