The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2022–2023
FIFA 23 adds a fictional club: Ted Lasso's AFC Richmond joins the sim
EA and Apple TV+ drop Ted Lasso's fake club into FIFA 23 — 13.2B impressions in 30 days and a 35% audience lift for the show.
EA Sports (Electronic Arts) · Apple TV+ (Apple)
What it had to solve
FIFA games are built on licensed real-world clubs, so fiction had never crossed the line. Apple TV+ had one of television's most beloved football characters in Ted Lasso but no way to put him where football fans actually spend their time: inside EA Sports' FIFA 23.
How it works
FIFA is the world's most popular football simulation, and its authority comes from licensed reality: real leagues, real players, real clubs. Ted Lasso, Apple TV+'s comedy about an American coach at a fictional English club, had the opposite asset — millions of devoted fans of a team that did not exist anywhere except on screen.
EA Sports and Apple TV+ closed that gap for FIFA 23. For the first time in the franchise's history, a completely fictional club joined the licensed lineup: AFC Richmond became playable, Ted Lasso became a Career Mode manager, and characters from the series appeared as avatars. The integration launched with the game in September 2022 and put the show directly inside the weekly ritual of football fans.
The numbers showed why crossing that line mattered: in the first 30 days the partnership produced over 2,000 articles and 13.2 billion impressions, AFC Richmond rose to the 17th most-used team among roughly 700 clubs, and Apple TV+ reported a 35 percent increase in Ted Lasso's audience. Cannes Lions 2023 gave the work the Brand Experience & Activation Grand Prix, recognizing fiction-as-licensed-content as a new kind of media buy.
Why it lands
- Putting a fake club in a real-football sim traded the interruption of an ad for the permanence of a licensed team.
- FIFA players chose AFC Richmond on merit — 17th most-used of ~700 clubs — which made the promotion itself the proof of the show's pull.
- The show's humor translated naturally into game content, so the integration never read as a banner ad inside a product.
- Both owners shared the upside: EA got a launch story the world covered, and Apple TV+ got measurable audience growth.
What it did
Within 30 days the crossover generated more than 2,000 articles worldwide and 13.2 billion impressions, while AFC Richmond became the 17th most-used team among FIFA 23's roughly 700 clubs — a fictional side outperforming most real ones. Apple reported a 35% rise in Ted Lasso's audience, and the work won the Brand Experience & Activation Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2023.
What you can take
When a show needs a bigger stage, don't advertise inside the game — become part of it: licensed fiction earns the same devotion as licensed reality.
Since then
The crossover became a reference point for entertainment marketing — proof that a streaming show could be sold inside someone else's product without diminishing either brand. EA and Apple repeated elements of the playbook in later crossovers, while the case circulated in award shows as an example of 'brand experience' built on content integration rather than ad placement. The numbers also redefined success metrics for the category: impressions in the billions, a fictional club in the real top 20, and a measurable audience lift for the show itself.
Sources
- Parceria entre 'Ted Lasso' e FIFA 23 rende prêmio em Cannes Lions
- View all the 2023 Cannes Lions Grand Prix awards
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