On 10 September, Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy appeared before Chester Crown Court, charged with four counts of rape and one sexual assault. The 27-year-old is accused of assaulting three women at his home in Cheshire between October 2020 and August 2021. Mendy has never been released on bail before, he is currently in custody and will appear in court on November 15 before his next hearing.
The player is a French player who joined current Premier League champions Manchester City for £2017m in 52 (currently suspended from the club pending trial). As such, Mendy has a wide profile in global football and of course has appeared in various versions of FIFA over the years.
Now EA has announced that it has removed the player from FIFA 22 (per Eurogamer), where EA Play subscribers have had access to trial since September 22 (game released on October 1). Mendy was removed from Manchester City and France, and his card was removed from FIFA Ultimate Team.
“As Benjamin Mendy was removed from the active rosters of both Manchester City and the French National Team, he was also removed from the respective squads in FIFA 22 and suspended from participation in FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) packs and Ultimate Draft.”
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However, since Mendy's FUT card was in-game at launch, it still exists in the in-game transfer market for FUT cards. This means that players can still appear on their teams.
EA provided Eurogamer with an additional statement about the card's availability: "We can confirm that the changes to FUT were made the day after the EA Play early access trial launched, causing some players to access Mendy in packs before the suspension."
This has led to some speculation that Mendy's FUT card could rise in value due to the 'rarity'. EA has the ability to fix the price of FUT items to prevent this, but has still not done so.
People want FIFA 22 to be influenced and reflective of what's going on in the world of football. Overall this is a huge plus for the originality of the video game and its connection to real sports, but it has also put EA in a position where it has to increasingly make decisions about what should not be allowed in FIFA.
Few would question EA's decision here: Mendy remains innocent until proven guilty, but can be returned to the game if found innocent and returned to the football world. Other decisions made over the years have been much less clear. Marco van Basten was removed from FIFA 21 as a FUT icon after he used the phrase 'sieg heil' during a sports broadcast before returning to FIFA 20. Former Arsenal and Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was previously quietly removed from FIFA 21.