The Iceland national team will not be part of the FIFA 17 roster this time due to disagreements over money. The country’s football association rejected EA’s $15,000 offer to include them in the title. The KSI has also reported that they counter-offered EA, but EA turned it down.
Iceland had an amazing run in the Euro 2016 tournament, but according to KSI President Geir Thorsteinsson, EA didn’t see that as a reason to make them a competitive offer for their licensing rights.
They are the ones buying these rights and they almost want it for free,” KSI president Geir Thorsteinsson is quoted as saying.
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.
We’ve reached out to EA for a comment and will update this story if they respond.
FIFA 17 will release next week on September 27, 2016.
