Following the surge of support for Ukraine from the video game industry, EA added their voice to show support for Ukraine today, announcing that they will be removing all Russian national football teams and club teams from FIFA 22, FIFA Mobile, and FIFA Online in solidarity with Ukraine. They also announced that they would be doing the same for NHL 22, with the addition of removing Belarusian teams.
EA’s decision to remove Russian teams mimics FIFA and UEFA’s announcement on Monday to suspend all Russian teams, whether they were national teams or club teams, from participating in their competitions until further notice. Both FIFA and UEFA released a joint statement, stating, “These decisions were adopted today by the Bureau of the FIFA Council and the Executive Committee of UEFA, respectively the highest decision-making bodies of both institutions on such urgent matters. Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine.” As a result, Russia was also terminated from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Likewise, EA’s decision to remove Russian and Belarussian teams from NHL 22 follows IIHF’s announcement on Monday to suspend all Russian and Belarusian national teams and clubs from participation in every age category and all IIHF competitions or events until further notice. IIHF also took away Russia’s rights to host the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship and will be looking for a new host for the event.
IIHF president Luc Tardif shared a statement regarding IIHF’s stance on the current war between Russia and Ukraine: “The IIHF is not a political entity and cannot influence the decisions being taken over the war in Ukraine. We nevertheless have a duty of care to all of our members and participants and must therefore do all we can to ensure that we are able to operate our events in a safe environment for all teams taking part in the IIHF World Championship program.”