FIFA 23 World Cup Mode Launches November 9, With Live Fixtures, Tournaments, New Matchday Experience

The new 2022 Qatar World Cup mode won’t be available on the Nintendo Switch since that version is a “legacy edition.”

Written by Rahul Chettiyar, Edited by Akhil Arora, Siddharth Suvarna | Updated: 2 November 2022 11:03 IST

FIFA 23 World Cup Mode Launches November 9, With Live Fixtures, Tournaments, New Matchday Experience

Photo Credit: EA Sports

Heroes and Icons cards for World Cup legends will be available in the Ultimate Team segment

Highlights

World Cup: Live syncs with real-time fixtures, letting you follow along
Teams that never qualified can be swapped into the tournament mode
Players can add World Cup cards to their Ultimate Team squad

FIFA 23's free World Cup mode is nearly here. In a deep dive trailer, EA Sports unveiled the latest championship-themed content coming to its annual football simulation game, to mark the celebration of the upcoming 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup. The free DLC unlocks new cinematics, a full season of Ultimate Team content, single and online multiplayer tournaments, and a FIFA World Cup Live mode, which lets you play along real-time fixtures. FIFA 23's World Cup mode goes live on November 9, across PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X.

FIFA 23 World Cup: game modes

EA Sports is adding a brand-new segment in FIFA 23, sporting a World Cup-themed interface, that lets you pick between several game modes. You've got the standard 1v1 kick-off match, which can be played locally with friends or the AI. Or you can turn up the heat with a Knockout Round as you pick a team and play a one-off FIFA World Cup fixture. This extends to the tournament mode, where you pick between 32 qualified teams and try leading them to glory, either offline or in the online seasons-like segment.

FIFA 23 Review: Barely Even Trying

Of course, one can also create custom tournaments, which allow players to add teams that didn't qualify and chart out their glory. The new FIFA 23 World Cup mode also brings a new matchday experience update, featuring special cutscenes, stadium dressings, and two stadiums, including the venue for the finals — The Lusail Stadium.

FIFA 23 World Cup: Live

Starting November 21, this mode connects to real-time World Cup fixtures, letting players follow along with the tournament as results, matches, statistics, and lineups — all of which get updated at the end of each match day. The mode is divided into three parts: ‘Featured Quickplay' enables a one-off match against local friends or AI, while ‘Online Quickplay' pits you against past, present, or upcoming fixtures against an online friend.

Then there's the ‘Your FIFA World Cup' mode, which states that you can “inherit a team's FIFA World Cup progress into Tournament Mode and write your own history.” Think of it like a “live” tournament mode, where you can jump into a match and alter the course of the tournament. If your favourite nation gets eliminated early, you can go back and rewrite the outcome to decide for yourself who ultimately lifts the trophy.

FIFA 23 World Cup: Ultimate Team

Prior to launch, EA Sports promised some World Cup-themed changes for its Ultimate Team segment. Unlike previous instalments, where the World Cup was a standalone mode in FUT, FIFA 23 will intertwine the experience, starting with limited-time items that allow you to swap upgraded players from your chosen nation into the club. For instance, the Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, sporting better stats than his standard Real Madrid card, can be added to your FUT season squad.

Additionally, Heroes and Icons, who were World Cup legends of their nations, back in the day, will be available, alongside kits, decorations, and other cosmetics. In August, FIFA 23 unveiled new Ultimate Team Heroes cards, with 21 iconic footballers from around the world reimagined as Marvel characters. The lineup includes retired legends namely the Korean midfielder Park Ji-Sung as Tigerheart, Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho as The Anticipator, ex-Juventus midfielder Claudio Marchisio as Il Principino, and more.

FIFA 23 is now available across all major platforms — PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X. The World Cup mode drops November 9, but won't be available on the Nintendo Switch as FIFA 23 is relegated to "Legacy Edition" there.

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FIFA 23

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Good
Better, more equipped AI (new-gen only)
Cross-platform play
PC on par with new-gen
Volta, Pro Clubs progression merged
Allows five substitutions

Bad
Impossible long shots, curlers
Cross-play is frustratingly limited
Women?s teams can?t play men?s
No women players in FUT
FUT pay-to-win behaviour ignored
Power Shot feels arcade-y
New corners, penalties unintuitive
FUT Moments brings third FUT currency
Playable Highlights are a joke
Five substitutions not allowed in Online Friendlies

Read detailed EA SPORTS FIFA 23 review

Genre Sports

Platform Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 (PS4), PlayStation 5 (PS5), Stadia, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC: Windows

Modes Single-player

Series FIFA

PEGI Rating 3+

More EA SPORTS Games

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