FIFA 21 vs PES 2021 licenses: Which game will have the rights to more teams?

Licensed teams in football games has been a huge topic of discussion in the last couple of generations; people want to play as their favourite team with the latest team.

As the graphics and the physics of the games become more refined and more realistic, the growing need for more accuracy in football games is even more important in 2020.

With FIFA 21 on its way and the ‘next’ PES coming next year as a full-release for next-gen consoles, eyes are on which game will have the rights to more teams in each league.

With that, let’s see just which game has the most teams now, and what upcoming game will have the most.

A Licence to Shoot

FIFA have been winning the battle in having hundreds of licensed teams, ready to go. Their name is ‘FIFA’ after all, so it would be surprising to have a game named ‘FIFA’ and not have any licensed teams.

But they currently have over 700 teams with a mix of over 17,000 players, pretty much covering the league of English football. They also managed to regain the Champions League rights, after ten year of PES owning them, which saw them appear in FIFA 20.

PES have been playing it different, gaining the rights to Juventus and also Euro 2021, after it being postponed due to COVID-19.

They also have the rights to UEFA’s European Championship, bolstering their licensed armoury. But with ‘partner clubs’, it enables a loophole for both games to essentially gain the rights to certain football stadiums and football kits, so no player can feel left out.

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Less is More?

All in all, it seems like FIFA is building its war-chest to be ready for the next-gen consoles in the fall. After regaining the Champions League rights, you can bet that there’s going to be a whole new refreshed look for the players in FIFA 21.

With PES, while the Euro 2020 was postponed, the tournament can in fact be played as free DLC right now, with all 55 teams ready to be played.

But it still doesn’t hide the elephant in the room that FIFA have many more licensed teams, ready to go; it just can’t be avoided.

But that’s not to say that PES is a lesser game; it’s far superior in the graphics department, and with the next entry moving to Unreal Engine, it may be the realism that can push a few more licenses to be implemented in PES in the future once again.

READ MORE: FIFA 21 & PES 21 Graphics: Which is better?