Diego Maradona, one of the greatest football players of all time, had his FIFA future thrown into disarray late last year when it was ruled that EA had negotiated a deal to use his name and likeness with the wrong person. A judge ruled that the studio needed to take the correct precautionary steps when it comes to Maradona's use in the game, and it appears those steps have now been taken.
When players fire up FIFA 22 right now, they will be met with a message informing them Maradona has been removed from the game, as was highlighted by VGC. “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,” the message reads. If you already have a Maradona FUT card you will presumably be able to keep hold of it.
The message goes on to read that EA hopes it will be able to bring Maradona back to the game as soon as possible, but there is currently no timeline on when that will be possible, if at all. The issues began when EA was informed it had potentially negotiated a deal to use Maradona's name and likeness with the wrong person. The Argentine football star's former manager, Stefano Ceci.
When asked to prove Ceci owned the rights to Maradona's name and likeness, and thus the ability to negotiate deals in the late footballer's name, he was unable to. That extended what has been a lengthy and confusing dispute over who exactly does have the right to negotiate such deals. Maradona's former lawyer Matias Morla claims the footballer left the rights to his company prior to his death, something that was argued by two of the star's daughters.
EA has been forced to remove a few people from FIFA 22 already this season. Manchester City's Benjamin Mendy was pulled from the game following some very serious allegations made against him, and the same goes for Mason Greenwood a little later into the season. There's also still a question mark hanging over whether FIFA will be called FIFA at all moving forward. EA's deal with the global football brand is up and it may opt to call the series something else for the first time in almost 30 years.