EA has announced that EA Sports FC 24 will honour the late Gianluca Vialli by making him an FC 24 Hero.
It comes as part of Day 1 of EA Sports FC 24's Heroes Week which begins with an announcement of five all-star heroes that includes Vialli, alongside other world-famous players in Alex Scott, Carlos Tevez, Wesley Sneijder, and Bixente Lizarazu.
However, as well as his inclusion as a Hero, the popular and personable Vialli will receive tributes from EA Sports FC in the form of a series of initiatives, one of which is a grassroots football project to be unveiled in his honour. This scheme is a plan to "meaningfully invest in community-level football on a global scale" and will be delivered in collaboration with one of his former clubs, Juventus. As you can see, he has also received a superhero makeover, which came in collaboration with Marvel Entertainment, giving him a striking, heroic look, that is in keeping with his reputation in the game from professionals and plans alike.
Both the grassroots scheme, the tribute, and his inclusion as an in-game Hero are befitting of Vialli, one of the most likeable men in football, but also one of the best of his era and generation. He won multiple trophies from the Serie A league, to the Champions League, and from the FA Cup to the UEFA Cup Winners Cup.
Vialli died at just 58 earlier this year in London, and was widely revered as a legend of the game as player - I remember watching a lot of him in the 90s as a brilliant Serie A striker - as a coach and manager (he won multiple cups managing Chelsea in the late nineties), and as a pundit where he immediately became a favourite of viewers adopting English colloquialisms into his analysis, as well as a great sense of humour.
Looking for more on the game? Check out our EA Sports FC 24 preview, along with some thoughts about whether the game might finally make changes long-time FIFA fans have been looking for.
