Leicester City's FIFA success reflects its real life wins

Leicester City are FA Premier League champions – and it transpires their colossal achievement has been as impactful on virtual pitches as real ones. EA Canada has revealed a wealth of stats which show just how far the club has come over the past 12 months in the eyes of FIFA 16 players.

In FIFA 15 online matches, Leicester were selected 36.2 million times. In the latest edition of the game, that number has risen to an absurd 133.7 million, a year-on-year increase of 269%. In those games, 51,728,408 goals have been scored, an increase of 615% over last year’s number of 6.8 million.

The number of gamers who’ve played as Leicester is equally staggering. Last season it stood at just over 3.9 million; this time around, 17.2million have taken control of Vardy, Mahrez and co: an increase of 335%.

On the subject of the Foxes’ two bone fide superstars – the Football Writers’ Player Of The Year and PFA Player Of The Year, respectively – their Ultimate Team rise has proven similarly meteoric. Vardy began the 2014/15 campaign as a silver card, rated 71 out of 100; his 'team of the season' card for this year bumps him up to 91. Mahrez’s overall rating, meanwhile, has gone from 73 (also silver) to an incredible 93.

You can see the full set of stats at the EA Sports website.

Jamie Vardy is considered one of the front runners for the FIFA 17 cover, after a campaign which delivered 26 goals in 42 games for club and country.

FIFA 16 is out now on PS4, PS3, Xbox One and Xbox 360, and we anticipate a FIFA 17 announcement at next month’s E3.

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I'm GamesRadar's sports editor, and obsessed with NFL, WWE, MLB, AEW, and occasionally things that don't have a three-letter acronym – such as Chvrches, Bill Bryson, and Streets Of Rage 4. (All the Streets Of Rage games, actually.) Even after three decades I still have a soft spot for Euro Boss on the Amstrad CPC 464+.