Why is Brazil not in FIFA 23?
Brazil is among the biggest footballing heavyweights, surprisingly missing from FIFA 23's huge catalog of available teams. The official game modes have missed the Selecao from the beginning, disappointing many.
The same incident happened in FIFA 22, so it's not new. While there's been a workaround this year thanks to the FIFA World Cup mode, the staple option of the game still misses the South American nation at the time of writing.
While the nation's absence might be known to all players, the cause has puzzled many. After all, there are various possible reasons why a particular team might not be present in the game. In Brazil's case though, it's more of a trivial reason that kept it out of the list of available teams, even in March 2023.
The FIFA World Cup mode has managed Brazil's absence in FIFA 23
It's quite clear that Brazil has been missing since FIFA 23 was released. While players from the nation are present in their official clubs, the national team is not present on the list of teams.
This has been largely due to licensing issues over image rights. Due to the lack of it, EA has been unable to feature the national team and all its assets. This includes the ability to create a team and use its official kits, logos, and footballers.
This doesn't affect the presence of the footballers in the club teams as they're included under the image rights from other sources. EA Sports owns club and league rights, allowing them to keep Brazilian footballers in the game even without the nation's license.
The situation hasn't changed, and there hasn't been any update on the issue in recent months. If a FIFA 23 player goes to exhibition mode and tries to search for the team, there won't be any results. Unless there's a deal made to fix the issue over image rights in the near future, the situation is unlikely to improve in EA Sports FC later this year.
How does the FIFA 23 World Cup mode help?
In November 2022, EA Sports introduced the FIFA World Cup mode in FIFA 23. It recreates the authentic tournament on the virtual platform, offering players the same experience as their real-world counterparts.
The mode features Brazil's original team and the official squad. This has only been possible because the rights belong to FIFA as part of their tournament, and EA Sports has complete access. While Brazil is unplayable in standard game modes, this is an excellent alternative that players can try.