"Deflate my boo*s" – Footballer demands EA Sports to use old avatar as FIFA 23 model would 'scare her children'

Angel City FC attacker Sydney Leroux has complained about her FIFA 23 avatar, claiming that she is completely unrecognizable in the hit football game.

FIFA 23, the most popular football game on the planet, has used high-definition scans of footballers to create lifelike in-game avatars. Footballers had to go through tedious full-body scanning sessions in order to make their FIFA avatars look natural.

Most in-game avatars look pretty much on point, but former USWNT international Leroux has not had any joy with her FIFA 23 model. Leroux has been given a rather generic face in FIFA 23, hardly resembling any of her features.

Unhappy with her FIFA 23 avatar, the 32-year-old complained, saying (via Daily Star):

“Please tell me I did not do an entire body scan for that...

“You are going to scare my children.”

She then posted an image of her avatar in FIFA 16, urging EA Sports to use the same model in FIFA 23 after making some minor adjustments.

She tweeted:

“They had the headband, the braid, the neck tattoo, the overly plucked brows and someone even made me CHESTYYYY!!!!

“Deflate my boo*s a bit and put a different jersey on. I’ll keep the brows at this point.”

Sydney Leroux, who won the World Cup in 2015, joined the National Women's Soccer League team Angel City FC in 2022. Before switching to Angel City, she plied her trade at Orlando Pride. Between 2018 and 2022, she featured in 53 domestic matches for them, scoring 16 times.

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FIFA president Gianni Infantino sheds light on the future of FIFA franchise

It has been confirmed that FIFA 23 will mark the final FIFA game to be developed by EA Sports. From now on, EA Sports’ annual football game will be known as EA Sports FC, with Gianni Infantino claiming that his organization will partner with other developers to continue the game’s legacy.

In May 2022, he said (via Gaming Bolt):

“I can assure you that the only authentic, real game that has the FIFA name will be the best one available for gamers and football fans. The FIFA name is the only global, original title. FIFA 23, FIFA 24, FIFA 25 and FIFA 26, and so on – the constant is the FIFA name and it will remain forever and remain THE BEST.”

While EA Sports will sorely miss the FIFA brand, FIFA itself could struggle to create a developer capable of maintaining the game’s legacy.

It is also believed that FIFA is set to deploy a non-exclusive model in the future, meaning multiple developers would have the right to use the organization’s license.