Akinfenwa celebrates FIFA 22 rating with eyebrow-raising stat

Wycombe Wanderers striker Adebayo Akinfenwa has taken to social media to revel in his FIFA 22 rating, ahead of the release of the new football simulation video game this week.

Nicknamed 'The Beast', the 39-year-old is best known for his incredible strength and he has been the strongest player on multiple versions of FIFA.

With the new edition of the popular EA Sports series to be released on October 1, Akinfenwa leads the sturdiest footballer ranks with 97 strength but he is held back by his 40-rated pace and 56-rated dribbling.

The former Swansea City, Northampton Town and AFC Wimbledon star gush about these stats on Instagram while promising that he would be giving away FIFA 22 games.

"Yes! EA Sports Fifa and still the strongest in the game...Yeah!! Yeah!!!. Don't watch any other stat cos I don't wanna know You get me. To celebrate over 10yrs of retaining my title I'll b doing the Beastmode run with Lenchman where I will be giving away Fifa22 games and other stuff. Make sure u tune in," Akinfenwa wrote.

Stating that he has been the strongest man for a decade has raised eyebrows because he was dethroned by Sebastien Haller in FIFA 19.

The Cote d'Ivoire international bumped up from a 78 overall to an 81, and his 91 strength stat was boosted to 98 - beating Akinfenwa by one.

With that, as well as 86 jumping, 82 heading, 80 ball control, 82 volleys, 80 finishing and 77 sprint speed, the Ivorian became a pretty good option for any Bundesliga side at that time.

Before that, Akinfenwa had been the strongest player in every edition of the game since FIFA 12.

The introduction of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) is the biggest change to football in the modern era, with contentious decisions and moments now up for review.

Despite first being rolled out in 2017, VAR was not a feature of FIFA 21, and this is likely to continue with FIFA 22.

Argentina international Lionel Messi is the best player in FIFA 22 again with EA Sports confirming that he has a rating of 93 on the new game.

Robert Lewandowski is the second-highest-rated player in FIFA 22 with a rating of 92 and the Bayern Munich striker is followed by Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, Jan Oblak and Kevin De Bruyne, who are all rated 91.