One of the major stories from the EURO 2016 Soccer Championships was the Cinderella run of Iceland through the tournament. Iceland, who was ranked 34th in the world, made it to the knockout round of EURO and even beat England before going down to France in the quarterfinals. Now ranked 27th in the world , Iceland is a country that many in the soccer world are looking at and that includes EA Sports.
According to the BBC, Iceland and EA Sports were in negotiations for the country to be included in FIFA 17 . However, EA had only offered $15,000 (£11,501) for the country to be in the popular soccer game. Needless to say the Icelandic football association was not happy about the offer and refused it. The association made its displeasure public and discussed their anger at the offer from EA Sports in the following statement:
"They are the ones buying these rights and they almost want it for free," said KSI president Geir Thorsteinsson to the BBC . "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."
Iceland , who has never appeared in the FIFA series, was hoping to be the 48th international men’s team to be featured in FIFA 17. The fees that EA pays countries includes permission to use that team’s trademarks and likenesses within the game. At press time of this article, FIFA features 650 teams from 30 leagues . That is what makes FIFA the premier franchise for soccer fans that want as many teams from around the world as possible.
EA Sports has yet to comment on the story. Iceland has never been featured in FIFA, so is the reported low offer standard for a team or country that is a first-time entrant into the FIFA game? What do you think? Let us know in our comment section.
