A new contract has been signed between the Italian football league Serie A and popular video game developer EA Sports which will be inclusive of sponsorship and licensing.
Furthermore, EA Sports will be handed over the naming rights to the Italian Super Cup. From the 2022-23 season, the tournament will be named the EA Sports Super Cup.
The exclusive licensing rights to 14 out of the league’s 20 clubs will be granted to EA Sports as well and those clubs will be present in the new FIFA 22 game.
Serie A will be featured in the game’s FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT), Team of the Week, and FUT Team of the Season.
The FIFA series will reportedly become the official platform for the eSerie A esports competition which is an esports platform exclusively by the Serie A.
EA Sports has discussed that it will put its name to a brand-new player of month award introduced within the game.
David Jackson, vice-president of the brand for EA Sports FIFA, said: “This collaboration with Lega Serie A further highlights our commitment to Italian football. We are ambitious for Italy now and in the future and will grow our presence there with the goal of delivering the most authentic and unparalleled gaming experiences in football.”
In October 2020, EA Sports’ rivals in the football video game space, Konami, signed a deal with the Italian Serie B, which is owned and managed separately from Lega Serie A.
Konami, which is known to be the fierce rivals of EA Sports, reportedly signed an agreement in October 2020 with the Italian Serie B, which is considered to be the second-tier league and is owned and managed differently from Serie A.
Along with holding the rights for Serie B and using the official Serie BKT name, logo, trophy, match ball, and team names in its Pro Evolution Soccer series, Konami also hold the licensing rights to Juventus, AS Roma, Lazio, Atalanta, and Napoli.