Manchester City embattled left-back, Benjamin Mendy will not appear in FIFA 22 when the video game is officially launched on October 1, 2021.
The publishers of the video game, EA Sports removed the French footballer from this year’s edition of the game pending the outcome of his rape and sexual assault trial.
Recall that Benjamin Mendy was charged with four counts of rape and one count of sexual assault in August 2021.
Mendy allegedly committed the crimes at his home in Cheshire between October 2020 and August 2021. According to statements from prosecutors, the French football star committed the crimes in October 2020, another in January 2021, and another in August 2021.
Since his arrest on August 26, 2021, the court in Manchester had remanded him in prison while awaiting trial. The court has denied his bail application a couple of times because he has breached one initially.
The last time he made a court appearance was in September 2021. Unfortunately for the out-of-favor France international, the Chester Crown court failed to grant him bail after the September court appearance.
Benjamin Mendy is expected to be remanded in prison until January 24, 2022, the date scheduled for the commencement of his trial.
Recall that before the 27-year-old football star started making court appearances over his rape and sexual assault scandal, Manchester City had announced that he has been suspended from the club pending the outcome of the investigation against him.
Also, he has been removed from the roster of the France national team due to the allegations against him.
In line with that, a statement EA Sports released to Eurogamer confirmed that Mendy would not appear in FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) packs and Ultimate Draft pending the out of his ongoing trial.
“As Benjamin Mendy has been removed from the active rosters of both Manchester City and the French National team, in FIFA 22 he has also been removed from respective rosters and suspended from appearing in FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) packs and Ultimate Draft while he is awaiting trial,” the statement read.
The suspension of Mendy from FIFA 22 would not take effect until a day after the official launch date of the game. This development has made most users of the game wonder why he made it to the game since Manchester City has suspended the player months before the launch date.
Based on this, the gamers who have been enjoying early access to FIFA 22 since September 22, 2021, and the EA Play subscribers who could access a 10 hour trial of the game before it is launched on October 1 will still have access to Mendy.
Mendy is the third footballer who has been removed from the EA franchise. Recall that in 2016, EA Sports removed ex-footballer Adam Johnson because he sexually abused a 15-year-old girl.
Also, EA Sports removed former Dutch national team captain Marco van Basten from FIFA 20 because he made Nazi comments during an interview.
Happy Birthday, @benmendy23! 🎂💙
— Manchester City (@ManCity) July 17, 2021
🔷 #ManCity | https://t.co/axa0klD5re pic.twitter.com/OlegtCXLn7
