Electronic Arts removes legendary player from FIFA 20 over Nazi comment

Electronic Arts has announced the sudden removal of Marco Van Basten from FIFA 20’s Ultimate Team following a controversial comment made involving Nazis. 

The player, who has played for the likes of Ajax, Milan and the national Netherlands team throughout his sporting career, is no longer available to earn as a card in the football sim’s Ultimate Team mode. 

Such a decision was made following offensive comments made by Van Basten in a recent broadcast on live television. The moment depicts Van Basten using the words ‘Sieg Heil’ when walking off camera after an interview, with the comments directed towards a German manager. 

At the time of writing, Marco Van Basten is a sports analyst for Fox Sports in Europe, and has been suspended for a period of one week following the aforementioned comments. It’s quite a calm punishment given the implication such comments might have had. 

Electronic Arts was a little bolder in the steps taken to exclude Von Basten, who can no longer be found in Ultimate Team in any capacity. When logging into the game, players will be greeted with the following message: 

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The ban will be in place “until further notice” so this might not be a permanent ban, with the possibility of Van Basten being re-introduced to Ultimate Team at a later date. Time will tell, although there is no place for bigotry in gaming even if it only comes in the form of off-hand comments like this.

FIFA 20 earned 4/5 in our review. It’s yet another solid entry in the blockbuster series, although doesn’t make any groundbreaking changes to the formula beyond the introduced of VOLTA mode:

‘I’m not sold on all the gameplay tweaks, however, and the additions to Career mode feel slightly dull. Still, if you’ve picked up FIFA every year then you’re most likely going to like what’s on offer here, even if the package feels very familiar,’ wrote Max Parker.