Which legends will join Zinedine Zidane, Johan Cruyff and others in FIFA 23? Who will be playable as a white and gold card in FUT? Here we cover all the info you need to know about the new icons in FIFA 23.
We all love to play with Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho or Ruud Gullit in FIFA. While we used to be able to win championships and cups with these legends in career mode a few years ago, in FIFA 22 they are only available as icons in FUT.
But these are far from the only legends that have already made it to Ultimate Team. The list is almost damn long – a whopping 105 Icons were part of FIFA 22. Sometimes a few of them are removed from the game, but at the same time some new faces debut every year.
So, there will be some new Icons in FIFA 23 once again. But which players deserve to join this elitist circle of white-golden cards? Well, the first leaks give us a pretty good idea about the players... and they are definitely interesting!
Will There Be Any New Icons In FIFA 23?
EA Sports hasn't confirmed anything officially yet, but we can at least be pretty sure that there will be some new icons in FIFA 23. This was always the case in the past years, because it shakes things up and FUT becomes more exciting.
To be honest, there are probably thousands of names that could be used as Icons for FUT. Luckily, it will take a few more years until it's Cristiano Ronaldo's and Lionel Messi's turn. For now, some other former superstars deserve the spotlight, and many leaks have dropped two names so far: Gerd Müller and Zico.
Gerd Müller In FIFA 23
Gerd Müller didn't go down in the history books as "Bomber der Nation" for no reason. Before Robert Lewandowski activated Super Saiyan mode in recent years, the German held just about every scoring record imaginable. In 427 Bundesliga games, he scored an incredible 365 goals and contributed another 98 assists.
Alongside other legends such as Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer and Elías Figueroa, he was one of the best players of the 1970s. In August 2021, Gerd Müller unfortunately passed away at the age of 75. So, timing-wise, it would definitely make sense if EA Sports would honor him as an Icon in FIFA 23. As one of the greatest strikers of all time, we assume his base to prime ratings will be something like 92/94/96. Anything below that would almost be a bad joke.
Zico In FIFA 23
Fun fact: Zico was called the "white Pelé" as he was one of the most popular Brazilian players of the 1970s and 80s. That actually says everything about you when you're compared to one of the greatest footballers of all time. In Europe, Zico was only active at Udinese Calcio for two years – most of his appearances, on the other hand, came from Flamengo Rio de Janeiro.
There he played an incredible 635 matches and scored an even more impressive 476 goals – as an attacking midfielder, mind you. We can hardly imagine his stats if he had become a striker instead.
In FIFA 23 we assume that all three Icon versions of Zico will get a rating above 90. This should put him roughly in the same league as Ronaldinho, but slightly weaker than the two demigods Pelé and Ronaldo (R9). For many players, he could also be interesting because of his free-kick trade – he is regarded as one of the free kick specialists in history, able to bend the ball in all directions.
Once more, we would just like to point out that these are just a bunch of leaks and rumors. Neither player has been officially confirmed by EA Sports, yet. But if we have learned one thing from the past months in Ultimate Team, it is that most of the leaks have been true. So why shouldn't this trend continue in FIFA 23?