EA Sports and Juventus FC have announced a new, multi-year, exclusive partnership, which will see the Italian giant return to the FIFA franchise in FIFA 23.
The brand deal between Konami’s PES-successor eFootball to and Juventus has ended, and the fictitious club Piemonte Calcio which looked suspiciously like Juventus (and had an identical roster) will be retired.
Since FIFA 20, ‘The Old Lady’, Italy’s most decorated football club has been invisible, replaced by fictional club Piemonte Calcio. The license to their club branding has been held by Konami; real players were always available and their likeness was used. This exclusive partnership has now ended.
“We’re excited to reaffirm our deep commitment to Italian football through this exclusive partnership with Juventus,” said EA Sports FIFA Vice-President of Brand David Jackson.
“This phenomenal club means so much to us and our fans, and will enable EA Sports to continue to deliver the most authentic and comprehensive interactive football experiences possible in FIFA 23 and beyond.”
The creative name Piemonte Calcio, which featured in three editions of FIFA, comes from the Piemonte region where Juventus hail from, with ‘calcio’ being Italian for football.
The news will delight fans of Serie A and FIFA, but will be a blow to eFootball fans.
Juventus will be fully-integrated back into FIFA, including their kits, badges and their stadium, Allianz Stadium. They will be available to use across all game modes, including Career Mode, Seasons and with club items in FIFA Ultimate Team. This means the iconic black and white-striped shirts will be back on the FUT market for fans to wear.
“We are proud to return by EA Sports’ side,” said Juventus Chief Revenue Officer Giorgio Ricci.
“The partnership with EA Sports goes beyond the concept of traditional partnership, together in the shared project of looking into the future, talking to new generations, riding the wave of new trends, urban culture and lifestyle. We chose EA Sports to go one step further because it is a partner sharing our vision and ambition. We are pleased to make this journey with a brand standing out for its originality, uniqueness, and innovation, as Juventus does.”
In FIFA 23, Juventus will have real likeness of all of their superstars, including Dušan Vlahović and Federico Chiesa, along with new signings Paul Pogba and Ángel Di María. Juve will be without their legendary captain Giorgio Chiellini, who has recently signed for Los Angeles FC in the MLS.
Napoli, Lazio, AS Roma and Atalanta of Serie A will remain eFootball exclusives, and their fictional aliases will remain in FIFA 23. Their players and their likeness will still be available.
Juventus’ inclusion is not the only update coming for the next FIFA. FIFA 23 will include more realism and immersion than ever with HyperMotion2 technology on next-gen versions of the game. Cross-play finally comes to 1v1 matches, women’s club football has been announced and two FIFA World Cup tournaments are set to be included in free post-launch content updates.
FIFA 23 will be available on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Stadia, and PC, and is released on Sept. 30, 2022. Players who pre-order the Ultimate Edition – with women’s superstar Sam Kerr on the cover – will get early access from Sept. 27, 2022, along with bonus content and 4600 FIFA Points.
Written by Alex Bugg on behalf of GLHF.
