EA Removes Suspended Manchester City Player From FIFA 22 While He Awaits Trial

EA has removed Manchester City left-back Benjamin Mendy from FIFA 22 while the player is awaiting trial.

The publisher confirmed to Eurogamer that the French national team and Manchester City player has been removed from both squads in FIFA 22 and that his card has been pulled from appearing in Ultimate Team packs while he is awaiting trial.

"As Benjamin Mendy has been removed from the active rosters of both Manchester City and the French National team, in FIFA 22 he has also been removed from respective rosters and suspended from appearing in FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) packs and Ultimate Draft while he is awaiting trial," EA told Eurogamer.

Club statement.

— Manchester City (@ManCity) August 26, 2021

The 27-year-old defender is accused of four counts of rape and one count of sexual assault that are alleged to have taken place at his home in Cheshire between October 2020 and August 2021. Last month, Manchester City released a statement confirming that Mendy had been suspended by the club pending an investigation.

This isn't the first time EA has removed a player from FIFA. In 2016, the publisher removed ex-footballer Adam Johnson from the franchise after he was found guilty of sexual activity with a girl aged 15. While more recently, the former Dutch national team captain Marco van Basten was pulled from FIFA 20 after he made Nazi comments during an interview at the time.

FIFA 22 doesn't officially come out until October 1, however, fans have been able to play the game since September 22 where EA Play subscribers could access a 10 hour trial of the game. EA's suspension of Mendy didn't actually come into effect until the day after the launch of the trial period, meaning that some players were able to find the suspended full-back in Ultimate Team packs when first playing FIFA 22.

Although EA's decision to remove Mendy from the game will be praised by fans, some may question why the player made it into the game in the first place - especially given that Manchester City suspended the player in real life four weeks earlier.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

source https://www.ign.com/articles/ea-removes-manchester-city-player-fifa-22