EA removes Russian teams from FIFA and NHL

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, FIFA, UEFA, and IIHF have banned Russian teams from their respective leagues. Following the lead of the organising bodies represented in its games, EA has announced that Russian teams will soon be removed from FIFA 22, FIFA Mobile, FIFA Online, and NHL 22.

“EA Sports stands in solidarity with the Ukrainian people and like so many voices across the world of football, calls for peace and an end to the invasion of Ukraine,” EA says on the official FIFA Twitter account. “In line with our partners at FIFA and UEFA, EA Sports has initiated processes to remove the Russian National Team and all Russian clubs from EA Sports FIFA products.”

Shortly after, a tweet from the EA Sports NHL account confirmed that “following the IIHF’s suspension of all Russian and Belarusian national and club teams from IIHF competitions, we will be removing these teams from NHL 22 within the coming weeks.” While EA’s NHL game naturally focuses on North American teams, IIHF teams were added in an update in December.

A top Ukrainian official, meanwhile, is calling on “all game development companies” to block Russian players, an effort hoped to “motivate the citizens of Russian to proactively stop the disgraceful military aggression.”

If you would like to support Ukraine yourself, you can donate to UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, and Voices of Children at those links.