Napoli to be third Serie A side to leave FIFA

Konami has snapped up another Italian club to an exclusive deal, with Napoli set to join the ranks and leave the FIFA franchise.

Napoli will remain on FIFA 22, but from FIFA 23 the Serie A side will be exclusive to Konami's PES franchise.

Take a closer look at the deal below.

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In one of the first pieces of concrete news around PES 2022 - it has been announced that Italian giants Napoli have joined the franchise as a partner - a deal that will become exclusive from the 2022/23 season.

The Italian club will join Juventus and Roma as exclusive partner clubs of PES, meaning the club will be renamed on FIFA 23.

Konami strike a new blow

With Juventus and Roma already exclusive to PES, Konami has struck another blow to EA by signing Napoli to their franchise.

The official press release from Konami reads:

"The 'Official Football Videogame Partnership' will commence with the start of the 2021/22 football season, providing numerous marketing rights.

"However, from the 2022/23 football season, the eFootball PES series will be the only real-time football simulation game to include an authentic, fully licensed recreation of Napoli."

Naming rights

Alongside the deal, Konami will also become the "Official Training Center Partner" for Napoli, with the training facility becoming the "SSC Napoli Konami Training Center" from 1 July 2021 - featuring a brand new gaming area for players and guests.

Naoki Morita, President at Konami said: “With this close partnership between our two companies, we will further establish eFootball PES as the definitive video game series for Italian football."

Serena Salvione, Chief International Development Officer at SSC Napoli said: "We are delighted to launch this exclusive partnership with an innovative, international brand such as Konami to create content and unique experiences for Napoli fans.

"Konami has further tied its name to the Napoli brand by acquiring the naming rights to the training ground. This partnership is the latest step in the wider drive towards internationalisation of the Napoli brand that the club has been working on in recent years.”

More to come

The Serie A squabble between EA and Konami looks set to continue.

So far, both Milan clubs have signed exclusively with EA, while Juventus, Roma, and now Napoli will be exclusive to Konami on PES 2023.

There could be more to come too for Konami as they have hinted at more partner clubs.

Lazio are already a non-exclusive PES partner, but the likes of Atalanta and Fiorentina could be up next.

For everything we know about PES 2022's licences head here.