AFC Richmond in FIFA 23.

The fictional club and squad seen in AppleTV+’s Ted Lasso will now be featured in EA Sports’ upcoming FIFA 23, which is set to launch worldwide on Friday, Sept. 30. EA announced that Wednesday:

Here’s more on that from EA’s announcement:

The World’s Game has one more club to announce: AFC Richmond are coming to FIFA 23!

That means Ted Lasso, Coach Beard, and the biggest stars of the AFC Richmond squad including Jamie Tartt, Dani Rojas, Sam Obisanya, Roy Kent, and Isaac McAdoo will all be authentically integrated into FIFA 23, along with Nelson Road–the club’s home ground.

One of the game’s great motivators, you’ll be able to select Ted Lasso as your playable manager in Career Mode, or you can manage AFC Richmond by swapping them into the Premier League or any other playable Career Mode league.

AFC Richmond will be playable across Career Mode, Kick-Off, Online Friendlies, and Online Seasons, including The Greyhounds’ Nelson Road home stadium.

And in FIFA 23 Ultimate Team™, you’ll be able to show your love for AFC Richmond with a series of customisation items including authentic kits and TIFOs, as well as being able to find and select Ted Lasso or Coach Beard as your club’s manager. All AFC Richmond content in FUT will be available through objectives and challenges.

And here are some screenshots from that:

A Ted Lasso FIFA 23 screenshot.
Ted Lasso in FIFA 23.
Nelson Road in FIFA 23.
Nelson Road in FIFA 23.

EA Sports titles have long allowed for created players and teams, but it’s fascinating to see the company itself put a full team from a fictional TV series into their latest FIFA installment. It’s just the latest part of Ted Lasso‘s surprisingly-detailed crossovers with real-life soccer, though, from using real announcers and pundits to shooting on location at actual stadiums. And this will be a way for some fans to get their fix of Ted Lasso content while waiting for season three.

[EA.com]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.