If you purchased FIFA 17 last Friday, and you are trying to find the national team of Iceland, you should stop looking for them, because they are not included in the latest soccer video game developed by EA Canada.
According to a report from BBC, the KSI (Knattspyrnusamband Íslands) Association refused EA’s offer of $15,000 to have the national men’s football team of Iceland included in FIFA 2017.
Iceland’s soccer team made a very good impression at Euro 2016, after knocking out England and advancing to the quarter finals.
Unfortunately, FIFA fans won’t be able to access Iceland in the game anytime soon.
Geir Thorsteinsson president of KSI explained what happened to the negotiation he had with EA, regarding the rights to include the team in the game.
“They [EA] are the ones buying these rights and they almost want it for free.”
“The performance at the Euros show that we are quite a good team and many would like to play with our team. It’s sad for the players – but the criticism should be towards EA Sports.”
“I really feel if we are giving away rights, or offering rights, it has to be proper negotiations and fair fees. I didn’t feel that this was done in a fair and open manner.”
Long story short, EA offered only $15,000 to use the trademarks and the image rights, an offer Geir Thorsteinsson considered too small.
While we can’t say if this is a fair price or not, we can all agree that from this dispute the first to suffer are FIFA fans who have one soccer team less in the game.
FIFA 17’s direct competitor, PES 2017 on the other hand, did pay the price to use Iceland’s national soccer team in the game, which means that if you wish to access Iceland you will have to play PES 2017.
FIFA 17 was released September 27, 2016 in North America and September 29, 2016 in Europe. The video game is available on both current-gen consoles (Xbox One and PS4) as well as last-gen consoles (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360) and PC.
