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Ciao, Piemonte Calcio: FIFA 23 'steals' Juventus license deal from eFootball 2022

As the summer transfer market continues EA announces the return of La Juve in an exclusive, multi-year partnership that will transcend onto EA Sports FC.

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For many years now, the summer transfer market in football video games, where EA and Konami keep their particular rivalry fighting for the best league and club deals, is almost as interesting as following the player signings in real life, where clubs hire and release athletes to better their season prospects. And while traditionally FIFA has gathered most of the major teams and competitions in exclusive capacity, every now and then PES and eFootball enjoyed their bombshell announcements. One of the most talked about was when Konami grabbed the exclusive rights to Juventus, which would be the main premium partner club for a few years alongside the likes of Barça, Bayern Munich, and Manchester United.

Same as Pro Evo in the past, FIFA had to use fake club names and jerseys to somehow include the squad in the game, and in the case of the Turin-based team they used "Piemonte Calcio", which gave for a good bunch of memes. But now, with FIFA 23, the Piedmont reference is no more, as Juventus FC is back, as Gamereactor learned at EA Vancouver and the studio has made official today.

As per today's announcement, EA Sports and Juventus Football Club have announced an "exclusive, multi-year partnership" for La Juve to return to the franchise with a "complete integration starting exclusively on FIFA 23". The wording means two things: that eFootball will lose the rights to use the Piedmont club's official crest, kits and stadium (though they normally keep the players 3D-scanning) in the new season, and also that the Juve deal will go on beyond the last FIFA, entering the EA Sports FC new era for the franchise.

Besides, Claudio Marchisio becomes a FUT Hero on FIFA 23, while young Serbian striker Dušan Vlahović will act as an ambassador for the game.

Being a free-to-play, ongoing football platform, and not a yearly release anymore, it is unclear when the Juve drop will happen on eFootball 2022 as Konami claimed that "the representation of the club will not be affected in 2022", but the company will most likely update and rename the service to 2023 for the new season. Juventus has been exclusive to PES and eFootball since 2019, meaning Piemonte Calcio was the only way to play with the unlicensed squad in FIFA 20, 21, and 22. It's worth noting that eFootball 2022 recently announced partner deals or renewals with clubs such as Bayern Munich, AC Monza, AC Milan and Inter Milan, though only the rossoneri team seem to be exclusive and thus absent in FIFA 23, same as Napoli, Lazio, AS Roma, Atalanta, and other European stadiums such as Allianz Arena or Spotify Camp Nou.

So no matter what, the Italian Serie A will look like a mixed bag of official and unlicensed content in both games, which is something fans would love to put to an end.

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