Why Maradona and other legendary names like Guardiola and Deco are not in FIFA 23

The Argentina legend and World Cup winner, who has featured as an Icon in FIFA since they were introduced in 2018, has now been removed.

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EA Sports confirmed that Maradona would be taken out of the game earlier this year due to a 'third party legal dispute'.

The statement read: "Due to a third party legal dispute, we must suspend Diego Maradona from appearing in FIFA Ultimate Team Packs, Ultimate Draft and the Soccer Aid World XI team.

"As such, Diego Maradona Icon Items will no longer be made available in Packs, SBCs and FUT Draft, and their price range has been fixed until further notice."

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The dispute began due to an issue with image rights after EA signed an agreement with Maradona's former manager Stefano Ceci.

However, after Maradona's death in 2020, his lawyer, Matias Morla, stated that the former Napoli icon has granted the image rights to him.

This led to a court ruling that Ceci was not in a position to deal with the image rights and these legal problems left EA having to remove Maradona from the game.

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He is not the only Icon to not feature in FIFA 23 as another seven are missing from the line-up.

Japanese legend Hidetoshi Nakata, former Bolton and PSG trickster Jay-Jay Okocha and now Man City manager Pep Guardiola have all been taken out of the game.

Filippo Inzaghi who made over 200 appearances for AC Milan, Portuguese playmaker Deco, Man United legend Ryan Giggs and former Arsenal winger Marc Overmars have also been withdrawn.

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Despite his absence in the latest release of the game, EA Sports didn't rule out Maradona returning.

They stated that they 'hope to bring one of football's greatest icons back in the game at some point in the future.'