The original 11 players selected for the FIFA 23 Team of the Year were announced last week, but EA wasn’t done with TOTY content. One more superstar was set to join this glorious FUT constellation as the TOTY 12th Man. After a week of voting, fans have made their choice—and it may actually break the FIFA 23 meta.
The three nominees for TOTY 12th Man, those who barely missed out on the starting 11, were Erling Haaland, Federico Valverde, and João Cancelo. Only one of them would be awarded a FIFA 23 TOTY item, and it was entirely up to the fans to decide who. The fans did indeed vote, and the results are, while unsurprising, potentially game-breaking.
Manchester City’s Norwegian goal machine Erling Haaland was the favorite to get the nod, and the oddsmakers were proven right. TOTY Erling Haaland is now a reality. You can already find his amazing new card in FUT packs. Amazing is the least we can say about the new TOTY Haaland item, though. You don’t need to do much more than look at his base stats to understand we’re dealing with a real beast here.
FIFA 23 TOTY Erling Haaland OVR rating and player attributes
- Position: ST
- Team: Manchester City
- League: Premier League
- Nation: Norway
- 96 OVR
- 96 pace
- 96 shooting
- 80 passing
- 88 dribbling
- 60 defense
- 94 physicality
These would be impressive numbers for any single FIFA 23 player, but they are particularly scary coming from Haaland. Even the striker’s base Gold version was a huge problem for opposing defenses in the early weeks of FUT. Haaland’s subsequent In-Form and special items only enhanced his popularity in the online FIFA 23 game mode. This Team of the Year item is on a whole new level of performance, miles better than any other available version of the Norwegian.
It’s easy to see how a player who was so dominant in FUT at base stats could be a threat to completely break the game with a much-improved version of what was already ridiculously overpowered. Long balls out of defense and toward the lone striker, who then proceeds to outrun and push defenders out of the way before bagging a goal was the nightmare of many FUT players back in September and October. With this new FIFA 23 Team of the Year rendition of Haaland, those nightmares may become reality once more.
