FIFA 22 benches Maradona thanks to intractable rights dispute over his likeness
Football: the beautiful game and also, sadly, one of the grubbiest. So much money sloshes around at the top that corruption and scandal are as much a part of football's history as Italia 90. So to the news that the likeness of the late Diego Maradona, one of the all-time greats, has now been removed from EA's FIFA 22. The reason? An intractable licensing dispute over who has the rights to profit from him.
Start up FIFA 22 and you'll be greeted with this message:
«Due to a third party legal dispute, we must suspend Diego Maradona from appearing in FIFA Ultimate Team Packs, Ultimate Draft and the Soccer Aid World XI team.
»As such, Diego Maradona Icon Items will no longer be made available in Packs, SBCs and FUT Draft, and their price range has been fixed until further notice.
«We share our fans’ disappointment and hope to bring one of football’s greatest icons back in the game at some point in the future.»
Last year an Argentinian court paved the way for this, ruling that EA had negotiated for the likeness rights with an individual who didn't hold them: Stefano Ceci, Maradona's former manager. But this is just part of a much larger legal battle, one that involves Maradona's children and a company called Sattvica that is co-owned by Maradona's former lawyer, Matias Morla.
Sattvica was founded in 2015, shortly after Maradona signed over his brand and likeness rights to Morla. Diego Maradona died in November 2020. After this Sattvica claimed it owned the rights to his brand and likeness, and has since been litigating worldwide to assert this claim.
The back-and-forth is between Sattvica and Maradona’s daughters, Dalma Nerea Maradona Villafane and Dinorah Gianina Maradona Villafane. It has all been rather unsavoury. The
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