As a result of a sports betting controversy and his suspension from football-related activities for eight months, Brentford striker Ivan Toney has received an additional punishment: he is excluded from the FIFA 23 game by EA Sports. This decision means that the player will no longer be available for use by players in the popular world-renowned soccer game.
In FIFA 23, Ivan Toney had an initial overall rating of 77. In Ultimate Team mode, he received recognition by being included in the Team of the Week once, with an 81 rating card, and also participated in the “Rulebreakers” event , being awarded a rank 85 card, which was his best available item in the soccer game.
These special cards are assigned to players based on their performance in real life and provide boosts to stats and abilities within FIFA 23, allowing players to use them in their custom teams.
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Ivan Toney, in addition to being suspended for eight months from activities related to professional football, was also fined £50,000 (equivalent to R$ 306,800) for violating the regulations of the English Federation (FA). The player admitted to having placed bets against his own team on thirteen occasions, which is considered a serious violation of the rules and principles of the sport.
The player’s involvement with sports betting began to be investigated by the FA in November last year. Then, in late December, the FA released details of the allegations against the Brentford player. According to the information released, Toney was accused of committing more than 30 violations of the betting rules, totaling 232 infractions, during the period from 2017 to 2021.
Deleting players in FIFA is not uncommon
In fact, deleting players from the FIFA game is not an uncommon occurrence. EA Sports has already taken steps to remove players who have been criminally charged or who have died in real life. In cases involving criminal charges, such as Greenwood and Overmars, the company has chosen to exclude players from the game as a response to their conduct outside of the sporting environment. The same happens when players die, like, for example, Riuler and Van Damme.
