Argentinian star Diego Maradona – who passed away in 2020 – has long been one of several “icons” that can be controlled in EA Sports.” FIFA Series, alongside other retired greats like Pele and Johan Cryuff. Until this week when his avatar was “banned” by EA.
A few days ago, players noticed that a message emerged from EA Sports informing players that “due to a legal dispute with a third party, Diego Maradona has had to be suspended from appearing”:
note
Due to a legal dispute with a third party, we have to ban Diego Maradona from participating in FIFA Ultimate Team Packs, Ultimate Draft and Team Soccer Aid World Xl. As a result, Diego Maradona’s ICON items will no longer be available in packs. SBCs and FUT Draft, and their price range has been fixed until further notice.
We share our fans’ disappointment and hope to bring one of football’s greatest icons back into the game at some point in the future.
– The EA SPORTS FIFA team
It’s a shame for Maradona/FIFA fans, but the real story here is this Chaos behind the scenes. as Eurogamer reportLate last year, it emerged that Maradona’s former agent Stefano Ceci, who claimed to own the player’s rights and who signed the paperwork to EA Sports, didn’t actually own those rights.
Matías Morla and his company Sattvica took over in August 2020. Now it gets even more absurd; Morla then spent the last two years being embroiled in a series of legal battles with Maradona’s daughters, who argued he shouldn’t have obtained the rights in the first place.
Given the absolute status of all this, players shouldn’t count on Maradona’s return to the series until everything is settled. If it’s ever settled. An EA representative tells igamesnews:
We have always incorporated Maradona’s image and image into valid license agreements, first with Mr. Maradona himself and later with the company entitled to license Maradona’s image rights worldwide.
We share our fans’ disappointment and hope to bring one of football’s greatest icons back into the game at some point in the future.
