FIFA 21 was released in October 2020 and it features some of the biggest teams in the world, but there is one notable omission: Juventus .
Instead, Piemonte Calcio take their place, entering into the game with a unique club badge and their own distinctive kit.
It is undoubtedly a blow to EA Sports to have a club of Juventus' stature absent from their flagship football title, but they will hope that Piemonte Calcio can do enough to fill the gap.
05:14 May 20, 2021. The creator of this kit does not allow for it to be opened in the Kit Creator. Piemonte Calcio will take Juventus' place in FIFA 21, entering into the game with a unique club badge and their own distinctive kit. Piemonte Calcio will take Juventus' place in FIFA 21, entering into the game with a unique club badge and their own distinctive kit. Piemonte Calcio (Juventus) official home & away kits in FIFA 20. Everyone now says ‘ewww trash’. First week of FUT, every fucker wearing them. The black and pink one is decent. But the yellow one is ugly AF. They’re pretty great imo. I love clean kits without sponsors. That pink and black kit will be the go to for every piece.
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So why has this unusual change happened? Goal takes a look at the reasons.
Why are Juventus called Piemonte Calcio on FIFA 21?
The end of the partnership between Juventus and EA Sports is the reason the Italian champions are called Piemonte Calcio in FIFA 21. They were also known as Piemonte Calcio in FIFA 20.
Juventus actually struck a deal with EA Sports' rivals Konami in 2019 to appear exclusively on their eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer games instead.
That deal prohibits EA Sports - or anyone other than Konami, for that matter - from using the Juventus brand, including their official badge and kits. For example, Juve are known as 'Zebre' in Football Manager.
Juventus are to be renamed as 'Piemonte Calcio' in #FIFA20 😵
What's your favourite fake name from a video game? 🎮 pic.twitter.com/X8OySFyg6J
Juve are not the only big name missing from the title though - you can see the list of missing teams here.
It has reversed fortunes somewhat, since Konami's titles - from International Superstar Soccer to Pro Evolution Soccer - earned cult status precisely because they did not have official team or player licenses.
Juventus Kit Fifa 2021
The sudden severing of ties in came after EA Sports' decision to remove Juve star Cristiano Ronaldo - the cover star of FIFA 18 and FIFA 19 - from promotional imagery and as their sole cover star.
A trio of players, Neymar, Kevin De Bruyne and Paul Dybala, appeared in Ronaldo's place in February 2019.
Why Piemonte Calcio? What does it mean?
Since EA Sports cannot use the real name of the team Juventus, they have had to use an alternative nom de guerre for the Serie A giants.
The name Piemonte Calcio literally means 'Piemonte Football' and is inspired by the region of Italy in which Juventus are based.
Piemonte - sometimes known as Piedmont - is situated in north-west Italy, on the borders of Switzerland and France.
It translates as 'At the foot of the Mountains', which is an acknowledgement of the area's famous Alps backdrop.
Piemonte Calcio follows a naming style that is used by a number of Italian clubs in real life - think Brescia Calcio, Cagliari Calcio or Associazione Calcio Milan (AC Milan).
Interestingly, Juventus were known as 'PM Black and White' (PM as an abbreviation for Piemonte) in Pro Evolution Soccer 2019.
Do Piemonte Calcio have real Juventus players?
While the Juventus brand does not feature in FIFA 21, Piemonte Calcio does feature players who play for Juventus.
When the news was first confirmed, EA Sports explained: 'Real-world players, including authentic names and faces, will be used in the Piemonte Calcio squad.'
Matthijs De Ligt is going where no man has gone before 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/DpW52Q5ozd
— DAZN Canada (@DAZN_CA) July 17, 2019That means we see Matthijs de Ligt, Aaron Ramsey and Ronaldo lining out for the 'new' outfit, which is good news for any FIFA-playing Juventus fans.
Aside from cosmetic differences, Piemonte Calcio will strongly resemble Juventus and the team is fully incorporated into the game, playable in Kick-Off, Ultimate Team, Career Mode, and VOLTA Football.
However, despite that, fans will have to come to terms with the fact that Juventus' home venue, Allianz Stadium, does not feature in FIFA 21.
Cristiano Ronaldo plays for Juventus at the moment, right? Not as far as FIFA 20 is concerned.
After EA Sports and Juventus' partnership came to an end this summer, the gaming franchise was forced into the awkward decision of branding the Italian champions without their name.
Not only that, but the separation meant that EA couldn't use the club badge or their kits, although they have been allowed to maintain their accurate graphics of the players themselves.
Outside of the details on the game, though, it had a profound effect on EA's company as a whole, with their value plummeting by an eye-watering £660 million overnight.
The whole situation gave everybody flashbacks to the rival PES series, where their lack of deals with teams meant the likes of 'London FC' and 'Man Blue' were in the Premier League.
Introducing Piemonte Calcio
It soon emerged that Juventus would actually be called 'Piemonte Calcio' and that further club details would be announced in due course as to not violate Juventus' deal with PES.
Now, the wait is finally over as the release of FIFA 20's Beta version means that players have finally been able to test out Piemonte Calcio, albeit with the player ratings from FIFA 19.
However, EA Sports have taken the time to update any areas that might compromise their legal obligations, meaning that the generic club badge and kits have finally been unveiled.
Club badge and kits unveiled
The badge takes on a similar shape of the old Juventus logo, featuring 'Piemonte' in large letters below the Italian flag and three stars, while 'Calcio' is written above a stallion graphic.
As for the kits, EA Sports have completely avoided the usual Juventus tropes by ditching the stripes in favour of a black design with a large pink sash as well as some smaller pink pin-stripes.
The away jersey seems to be completely yellow, with an Italian flag design down the centre. You can check out some of the screenshots that have emerged from the Beta below:
Let's be honest, it all looks a bit tacky, doesn't it?
EA have been put in a really difficult situation here and will have been forced to produce completely original designs, but it just looks so weird seeing Cristiano Ronaldo in those strips.
The FIFA series has almost been completely immune to these issues that bugged people about the PES games and it will definitely frustrate people given the size of Juventus.
However, we have seen some worse custom kits in our time and there are even some people who think the Piemonte Calcio insignia beats that of Juventus' latest effort.
Can the same be said of the kits? Surely not and it's hard to imagine that either strip would be flying off the shelves if Juventus actually released them.
Anyhow, sponsorship complications aside, we're sure that gamers will be scoring plenty of goals with Ronaldo and co on FIFA 20, even if the jerseys will take some getting used to.
What do you think of the whole Piemonte Calcio situation? Have your say in the comments section below.
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