Iceland’s Football Association (KSI) has declined the opportunity to feature on FIFA 17, refusing to sell their image and trademark rights to programmer EA Sports.
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The manufacturer was willing to pay the a-fjord-able price of about two million Icelandic krona (£13,315) in exchange for the team featuring on the long-awaited Federation Internationale de Football Association 17 game. Both parties failed to come to an agreement after EA knocked back Iceland’s counter offer. However, their run to quarterfinals at the Euros and following they developed put them on the map and made them a target for the game.
Standard Sport has asked EA Sports for comment.
KSI president Geir Thorsteinsson said: “We don’t accept bad treatment”.
Arnason said that most of the players he had been in touch with would be in the game anyway with their club sides, but that it would have been good for Icelandic football to have the worldwide side in there too.
The most high-profile would be getting the team included on the list of national teams in EA Sports’ FIFA video game series. “It was a chance to get the Iceland brand and the logo on the kit and everything out there”, he explained. “I think hundreds of millions play this game. It is often the smaller teams with interesting players that get popular in this game”, Jonsson said.
Thorsteinsson went on to add: ‘I really feel if we are giving away rights, or offering rights, it has to be proper negotiations and fair fees’.
It was a memorable summer, but despite well and truly leaving their mark on the global stage, Iceland’s national football team won’t be appearing on Fifa 17.
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India, who are 148th in the world, are the lowest ranked national side in the game.
