FIFA 23 TOTY: EA Sports releases Team of the Year, Karim Benzema and Messi TOTY stats leaked

FIFA 23 Team of the Year has officially been revealed by EA Sports. It features the world’s best XI for 2022, as per the fans’ voting. It contains World Cup stars like Kylian Mbappe, Leo Messi, Hakimi or in other words, the PSG teammates. Talking about teammates, there are four Real Madrid players featured in the team including Thibaut Courtois, Eder Militao, Luka Modric, and Karim Benzema. 

FIFA 23 Team of the Year announced

EA has officially revealed the FIFA 23 Team of the Year. Here is the complete XI for FIFA 23 TOTY:  

Attackers

Karim Benzema (France) - Real Madrid
Kylian Mbappé (France) - Paris Saint-Germain
Lionel Messi (Argentina) - Paris Saint-Germain

Midfielders

• Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium) - Manchester City
• Luka Modrić (Croatia) - Real Madrid
• Jude Bellingham (England) - Borussia Dortmund

Defenders

• Achraf Hakimi (Morocco) - Paris Saint-Germain
• Éder Militão (Brazil) - Real Madrid
• Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands) - Liverpool
• Theo Hernández (France) - AC Milan

Goalkeeper

Thibaut Courtois (Belgium) - Real Madrid

FIFA 23: Benzema gets overlooked by EA

Speaking of the best player in the world, Karim Benzema’s ST card is bound to create waves in FIFA 23. FUT Sheriff, the most popular Ultimate Team leaker, has just leaked the official stats of Karim Benzema TOTY card in FIFA 23. 

FUT Sheriff revealed the card’s allegedly official stats on their Twitter account. Since FIFA 23 is (sadly) still a game dominated by pace and agility, we’ll take a look at the pace first. Karim Benzema has 92 Pace and if this turns out to be true, it will surely come across as a disappointment for those looking for a TOTY striker to have at least 95 Pace.

While it’s true that Karim Benzema isn’t the fastest striker out there, he really should be getting 95+ given that it’s the most elusive FIFA 23 promo and there are already powerful and fast defenders out there who can theoretically handle this pace. 

 

 

Add to it, the fact that Karim Benzema is the Ballon D’or winner, so if his card doesn’t reflect that on pitch, it will certainly be a disappointment. Sure, it’s not just about the pace since Benzema’s game is much more complex and diverse than that. He is Real Madrid’s main talisman ever since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo. 

For a goal-scorer like him who scored against the likes of Chelsea, PSG and Manchester City to take Madrid to Champions League glory, the shooting being shy of 98 doesn’t add up. FIFA 23 Team of the Year has to be one of the most overpowered cards on the market, at least on paper. 

Maybe the 97 shooting won’t make much of a difference but on the odd days when he might miss a goal in FUT Champs when you’re losing 1-0 against an opponent who scored a sweaty goal and then did the giddy celebration, maybe then that 1 less shooting rating would hurt. 

That might sound like an extremely niche situation but those familiar with FIFA 23 FUT Champs would agree that sadly, the situation is more real than even I’d like to admit. 

If you compare this card to the previous ST cards we’ve had in FIFA 21, and FIFA 22, the TOTY cards from then all had at least 98 shooting for the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski, and Kylian Mbappe. 

Otherwise, the 90 passing is also underrated, given how often Benzema drops to the midfield to link up and create chances for the team. 

Best player in the world gets a 97 overall rating, one less than Robert Lewandowski and Lionel Messi who had 98 in FIFA 22 TOTY. Interesting move EA, if this is true.

UPDATE: Lionel Messi TOTY stats leaked

FUT Sheriff has just leaked the stats for the Argentine Lionel Messi as well on their account.