FIFA is returning for another year of the franchise, but some Icons will not be returning with it. Here we have all the information on which Icons have been removed in FIFA 23.
Icons have been a major part of Ultimate Team since its debut in FIFA 16. Icons are players based on legendary footballers from the past who have certain characteristics and abilities. Icons have unique skills and abilities, and they’re frequently quite strong in-game. Their cards are typically rather rare and costly on the FUT transfer market.
We have been fortunate enough to add some great names to our roster over the years, including Pele, Eric Cantona, Paulo Maldini, and George Best.
When a new version of FIFA comes out, EA often likes to add new names to the Icon list. We already know three additional names, these include Jairzinho, Xabi Alonso and Gerd Muller
However, under certain circumstances, EA may need to delete Icons from the game, as shown by FIFA 23 when a total of eight icons were removed from the roster. Find them all out below.
Here is the list of eight Icons that have been removed from FIFA 23.
Iker Casillas (Spain)
Iker Casillas Fernández is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Popularly dubbed “San Iker” for his ability to produce spectacular saves, Casillas is widely considered to be one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time.
Cafu (Brazil)
Marcos Evangelista de Morais, known as Cafu is a Brazilian former professional footballer. With 142 appearances for the Brazil national team, he is the most internationally capped Brazilian player of all time.
Diego Maradona (Argentina)
Diego Armando Maradona was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the 20th Century award.
Deco (Portugal)
Anderson Luís de Souza (born 27 August 1977), known as Deco (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈdɛku]), is a Brazilian-born Portuguese sports agent and retired professional footballer who primarily played as an attacking or central midfielder. After an illustrious playing career he started D20 Sports, an agency that specializes in managing Brazilian and Portuguese footballers. Deco is regarded as one of the best players of his generation.
Ryan Giggs (Wales)
Ryan Joseph Giggs OBE is a Welsh football coach and former player. He was most recently the manager of the Wales national team. He is also a co-owner of Salford City.
Josep Guardiola (Spain)
Josep “Pep” Guardiola Sala is a Spanish professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Premier League club Manchester City.
Marc Overmars (Netherlands)
Marc Overmars is a Dutch former professional footballer and director of football at Belgian Pro League side Royal Antwerp FC. He was previously director of football at Ajax. During his football career, he played as a winger and was renowned for his speed and technical skills.
Filippo Inzaghi (Italy)
Filippo “Pippo” Inzaghi Ufficiale OMRI is an Italian professional football manager and former player who played as a striker. He was nicknamed “Superpippo” or “Alta tensione” by fans and commentators during his playing career. He is the head coach of Serie B club Reggina.
This was verified after EA released the names of the previous Icons that would be coming back on their website. These eight names were unfortunately left out, thus they will not return in FIFA 23.
There will be some whose absence will be more felt than others. Diego Maradona will be a significant loss to the FIFA series. He was without a doubt one of the finest Icons in the game, and he will be sorely missed in FIFA 23.
Cafu was also a exceptional choice at right-back, and now that he’s gone, we don’t have many other good options in this position. EA could bring another iconic full-back soon though, so you never know.