Ahead of the FIFA 22 Team of the Year (TOTY) items being released into packs, the 12th man item has apparently been leaked.
Five PSG players featured in the FIFA 22 TOTY Final XI, which was revealed on Thursday, January 20, 2022 at 15:30 PM GMT, with Manchester City having three players featured, Champions League winners Chelsea having two players included and there was a single player from Bayern Munich.
But one of the major surprises from the FIFA 22 TOTY Final XI reveal was the omission of Liverpool star Mohamed Salah, who missed out on a place in the XI, with players like Chelsea's Edouard Mendy, Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold, Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema and Italy stars Leonardo Bonnuci and Giorgio Chiellini also missing out.
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But on Tuesday, January 25, 2022 at 18:00 PM GMT, at the same time that the FIFA 22 TOTY defenders and goalkeeper items were released into packs, EA Sports officially launched the 12th man vote, with players able to choose their favourite player by logging into FIFA 22 Ultimate Team.
There were three FIFA 22 TOTY 12th man candidates, Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah, Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema. Some of the previous TOTY 12th man players have been Lionel Messi (FIFA 21), Cristiano Ronaldo (FIFA 20) and Neymar Jnr (FIFA 19).
But, as has been the case in almost every FUT promo in FIFA 22, the TOTY 12th man appears to have been leaked before EA Sports' official announcement, so look away now if you don't want to spoil the surprise.
According to the reliable @FutSheriff, the FIFA 22 TOTY 12th man has already been decided, and it's bad news for Liverpool's Mohamed Salah.
@FutSheriff claims that the FIFA 22 TOTY 12th man will be Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo, with his FUT TOTY item set to be revealed and released into packs on Friday, January 28, 2022 at 18:00 PM GMT.
@FutSheriff also claims that there will be 15 FUT TOTY Honourable Mention players in packs, with these items set to go into packs from Friday, January 28, 2022 at 18:00 PM GMT until Friday, February 4, 2022 at 18:00 PM GMT.
Of course, as with all leaked content, it's not possible to confirm this information, but these social media accounts have been very reliable in the past, not just for TOTY, but for the majority of FUT 22 promos this year.
EA Sports' FIFA 22 TOTY fan vote ended on Tuesday, January 18 2022 at 7:59 am GMT, having first opened on Monday, January 10 2022 at 16:00 pm GMT, with fans able to vote for a TOTY from 80 TOTY nominees including Lionel Messi, Mohamed Salah, Robert Lewandowski and many more.
In the terms and conditions of the EA Sports FIFA fan vote, there was a line that read "The final Team of the Year selection will be determined by community votes with possible input from EA", so players have been debating about the exact weight that the fan vote will have on the final FIFA 22 TOTY selection.
Here is the confirmed FIFA 22 TOTY Final XI.
