FIFA 23 Icons list adds Gerd Muller, Xabi Alonso and Jairzinho

Three new FIFA 23 Icons expand the number of legends available in next and final installment of FIFA, with the addition of Gerd Muller, Xabi Alonso and Jairzinho. Müller is the headline name but all three are profiled below, for FIFA 23 players who may not be up to speed on their footballing history.

FIFA 23 ICONS GERD MÜLLER (GERMANY)

A truly prolific striker, Gerd Müller had an astonishing record in front of goal that more than earns him ICON status. The German striker broke Bundesliga records for fun: most career goals, most hat tricks, most top scorer crowns, and most goals in a season to name just a few. He did it on the international stage too, with an incredible 68 goals in just 62 games for West Germany that included the Golden Boot after 10 goals at the FIFA World Cup 1970™ in Mexico. That was followed four years later by the winning goal in the final at his home stadium in Munich that saw him become the highest FIFA World Cup™ scorer of all time, a title he held for 32 years before being surpassed by Ronaldo Nazário in 2006. An all-time great of the game, Müller’s legacy and legend live on through his records that only a handful of players have ever come close to touching.

FIFA 23 ICONS XABI ALONSO (SPAIN)

Midfielders don’t come much more elegant than Xabi Alonso. The Spaniard’s remarkable technique and ability to pick out his team mates led to his hallmark – a raking, pinpoint long pass from deep that put the ball on a plate for the attacker. It was a talent he used on multiple occasions to send the ball over the keeper’s head and into the goal from behind the halfway line. Alonso was the midfield heartbeat of some of the biggest teams in Europe and picked up the trophies to match. At Liverpool, he scored the equalising goal in the legendary 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, then won another at Real Madrid. That’s not to mention an FA Cup, two Copa del Reys, a LaLiga title, three Bundesligas, and a decisive role in winning Spain’s first ever FIFA World Cup™ trophy. The work of a true ICON.

FIFA 23 ICONS JAIRZINHO (BRAZIL)

Brazil’s FIFA World Cup 1970™ squad is widely considered one of the best international teams ever to set foot on a football pitch. At that tournament, Jairzinho did something no player had ever done before and has never done since – scoring in every FIFA World Cup™ finals match from group stage to the final as Brazil lifted the Jules Rimet trophy for the third time. The Hurricane, as he was called, was a proven goalscorer from the wing with pace to burn and a frightening mix of strength and dribbling ability that took him past defenders with ease, followed by pinpoint finishing that goalkeepers couldn’t do much to stop. His second goal against Czechoslovakia in 1970 shows all that makes Jairzinho the ICON that he is: combining power and speed to drive past three defenders before rounding things off with a precise finish into the bottom corner. In a nation known for its skillful wingers, Jairzinho is undoubtedly one of the Seleção’s finest.

FULL LIST