FIFA 22: Next update removes Russia

EA Sports puts their own announcements into action after all. With the next patch Russia and Belarus will be removed from FIFA 22.

The 9th title update of FIFA 22 will be released soon. Besides smaller bug fixes in Ultimate Team and bug fixes regarding the gameplay, one change in the patch notes stands out: Russia will actually be removed from the current version of the soccer simulation. With this, EA Sports finally seems to comply with its own announcement after weeks of radio silence.

A statement from EA SPORTS FIFA: pic.twitter.com/v3pZvpblgS

— EA SPORTS FIFA (@EASPORTSFIFA) March 2, 2022

Radio silence after statement

The publisher had already commented on the situation in a statement after the invasion of the Russian troops in Ukraine and held out the prospect of far-reaching consequences. Measures were to be initiated in consultation with FIFA and UEFA partners. But for the time being nothing happened. Calm returned. It is not known whether the headwind from the community played a role in this.

Since then, the developer studio has released three updates without addressing the issue further. Transparency and communication once again proved to be foreign words. The patch notes now show that the project has not been shelved, but will be put into action in the next few days. Compared to the announcement on the social media channels, however, something has changed.

Exclusion from all modes

While originally only the three capital clubs together with the national team were to be excluded from all FIFA products, the Otkritie Bank Arena, where Spartak Moscow plays its home games, will also no longer be present with the next update. For this purpose, the teams will be completely removed from new scores of the career mode. Furthermore, all Russia-related content in Pro Clubs will be displayed alternatively after the download.