Forward-looking: The World Cup is the largest football (or soccer) tournament, run every four years in varying countries. The event draws billions of viewers rooting for their country to hopefully hoist the trophy. Meanwhile, others may attempt to predict which team will win, including using the biggest football video game available.
Electronic Arts (EA) has produced games under the FIFA branding for the last 26 years, allowing players to pit their favorite teams against one another or even simulate their own tournaments similar to a World Cup. Every four (or, in this specific case, five) years, EA releases an update for its latest FIFA game, adding in a time-accurate World Cup bracket.
Since 2006, EA has done an in-game simulation of the upcoming World Cup, attempting to predict the outcome of the entire tournament. They currently have a prediction record of 3-1, correctly guessing Spain, Germany, and France for the last three championships. EA also picked the Czech Republic to win in 2006; however, the team didn’t advance out of the group stage.
EA predicts that Argentina will win the 2022 World Cup, claiming the trophy by winning a “one-point game” over Brazil in the Final. Unfortunately, EA doesn’t specify the score, though it is emphasized that the game-winning goal was scored by none other than Lionel Messi. France’s national team finished in third place, though their “third-place playoff” opponent was not mentioned.
The simulation also expects Messi to win both the Golden Boot award (player with most goals) and the Golden Ball award (best overall player).
There was a four-way tie for the Golden Glove award (best goalkeeper) between Rui Patrício (Portugal), Alisson (Brazil), Dominik Livaković (Croatia), and Emiliano Martínez (Argentina). The tiebreaker goes to the player whose team advanced the furthest; thus, Martínez was given the award due to Argentina winning the World Cup.
Fans of the United States national team also have a reason to celebrate, as EA’s prediction expects the U.S. to advance all the way to the quarterfinals. The United States national team hasn’t advanced that far into the World Cup since 2002, and after 2018’s devastating qualifying performance, U.S. fans will be willing to accept any ounce of success.
All in all, if you wish to simulate your own running of the 2022 World Cup, the mode was added in a recent update on November 9. If you’re a diehard FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) player, predicting the World Cup through EA’s predictor can actually net you some new cards for the FUT mode as well.
The World Cup group stage matches begin on November 20, and the championship runs until December 18.
