EA‘s president of music Steve Schnur has shared that Kasabian‘s 2004 hit ‘Club Foot’ remains his all-time favourite FIFA song.
Speaking to NME, Schnur shared some high praise for Kasabian, whose track ‘Club Foot‘ appeared in FIFA 13.
“The guys in that band are some of the most football-obsessed people I know on planet Earth,” shared Schnur. “Just knowing how much FIFA meant to them personally… to them, it’s been: ‘How many times can we get [our music] into FIFA?’ It’s a measure of success to them, I just love it.”
Despite his love of Kasabian, Schnur says that Blur‘s ‘Song 2’ remains “the quintessential football song.”
Addressing the impact of FIFA‘s soundtrack, Schnur is “so proud” to see people discussing songs that feature in the series. “A friend of mine who lives in London says that all of his friends continually argue over the best football songs in the pub, and they’d be by bands from 2003, 2006 and so on,” shared Schnur.
“[FIFA] has become the ownership of what football means to them, musically-speaking. We used to say that we’re following culture. [Now] we’re creating culture and, dare I say, we are culture.”
The next FIFA game – FIFA 23 – is set to launch later this month, and Schnur says that fans can expect over 100 songs to appear. FIFA 23 will also include an improved matchday experience, real-world managers, and women’s club football – but it will be EA’s last football title to launch with FIFA branding, thanks to a dispute between both groups.
Schnur is already looking ahead to EA’s next iteration of the series, which will be called EA Sports FC. “The day [FIFA 23] comes out, I start working on EA FC,” shared Schnur. “There’s no break – actually, the break is now, because we’re locked and loaded. [But] then, all of a sudden, we’ll go, ‘OK! How are we gonna do something [that’s] never been done before with EA FC?’”
In other football-related news, Sega has announced a release date for Football Manager 23, which will launch just over a week after FIFA.