American football has been part of the Fortnite experience for years. But what about the other kind of football? The one that trades sacks and touchdowns for gegenpressing and panenka penalties? Well, the game already has skins inspired by the FIFA World Cup. On January 23rd, however the ludicrously-successful battle royale will be embracing club soccer, too. That means 10 new outfits, with male and female variants, that are compatible with 23 different teams. (So if you own one outfit, you can freely swap between clubs.) The exact outfits are a mystery, but screenshots show a mixture of jerseys and long-sleeve tracksuit tops.
Here’s the full list of compatible teams: Manchester City, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, AS Roma, Seattle Sounders FC, Atlanta United, Los Angeles FC, Santos FC, Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Ham United, Sevilla, Sporting CP, Borussia Mönchengladbach, FC Schalke 04, VFL Wolfsburg, Rangers, Celtic, Cerezo Osaka, Melbourne City FC, Sydney FC, Western Sydney Wanderers and EC Bahia. It’s a good mixture that spans the Premier League (England), La Liga (Spain), Serie A (Italy) and Bundesliga (Germany), as well as smaller leagues such as the Scottish Premiership (Scotland), MLS (US) and J1 League (Japan). Notably, Epic Games hasn’t included any teams from Ligue 1 (France), such as PSG.
Some soccer fans will undoubtedly be unhappy with the list. Many of the world’s biggest clubs haven’t made the cut, including Premier League title-holders Liverpool, Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, and Bundesliga’s Bayern Munich, which won the Champions League last year.
Thankfully, Epic has more than outfits to keep soccer fans entertained. The company is adding an emote that mimics Brazilian superstar Pelé’s iconic ‘air punch’ celebration. There will also be a Pelé Cup event that rewards top players with the emote and Kickoff Set, which presumably includes every new outfits. Finally, the developer is unveiling a football-inspired Creative island that lets you play ‘the beautiful game.’ Unlike the real thing, though, this version will include pickaxes, power-ups and speed boosts. Four teams will compete in a bracket format — with the winners facing each other, and the losers battling for third — with matches that last two rounds. Game on.
