Iceland out of FIFA 17 game over money row

Reykjavik (AFP) – Iceland will not feature in the latest FIFA video game due to a financial row between the Euro 2016 quarter-finalists and American game manufacturers Electronic Arts (EA).

The Icelandic Football Association (KSI) has accused EA of showing them a lack of respect in their monetary offer to the European minnows.

“We don’t accept bad treatment. They offered under two million Icelandic crowns (15,500 euros, $17,300). We made them a counter offer, which they did not accept,” KSI president Geir Thorsteinsson told AFP.

The FIFA series of football video games are hugely popular with the latest version — FIFA 17 — due for release on September 27 in North America and two days later throughout the rest of the world.

Thorsteinsson believes EA will have a change of heart.

“I expect they might well get in touch next year. I think hundreds of millions play this game. Iceland is a cult team so it would get even more attention,” he added. 

“It is often the smaller teams with interesting players that get popular in this game.”

Iceland provided one of the biggest shocks in European Championship history in France in June when they beat England 2-1 to reach the tournament quarter-finals, before going down 5-2 to the hosts.

The team’s distinctive clapping celebration with their fans earned cult status during the Euros and was even adopted by France on their journey to the final.