FIFA 2000, released in North America as FIFA 2000: Major League Soccer, is a 1999 football simulation game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation, PC, and Game Boy Color. As the seventh entry in the long-running FIFA series, it arrived with a wave of new features designed to make the franchise feel bigger, more authentic, and more connected to real-world soccer culture than ever before. In this article, we’ll explore what made this entry stand out, its gameplay innovations, and how it was received by players and critics alike.
A Game Built Around the Turn of the Millennium
FIFA 2000 was based on the 1999–2000 international soccer season, capturing rosters, teams, and league structures as they stood heading into the new millennium. Released on PlayStation in October 1999, the game’s timing and branding leaned heavily into the symbolism of the coming year 2000, positioning itself as the definitive soccer experience to welcome in a new era of gaming.
Major League Soccer Joins the Roster
One of the most significant additions in FIFA 2000 was the first-ever official licensing of the United States’ Major League Soccer. Previous entries in the series had relied on a fictional American league to fill that gap, but FIFA 2000 replaced it entirely with the real MLS, complete with all twelve official teams at the time. This addition was significant enough that it became the basis for the game’s North American subtitle, officially branding the region’s release as FIFA 2000: Major League Soccer.
This MLS focus wasn’t an isolated choice either. EA Sports leaned further into American soccer culture by including U.S. Women’s National Team standout Julie Foudy, capitalizing on the recent wave of excitement surrounding the U.S. team’s Women’s World Cup victory that same year.
New Features That Pushed the Series Forward
FIFA 2000 introduced several meaningful innovations that gave it a noticeably different feel compared to its predecessor, FIFA 99:
- Consecutive season play — For the first time, players could compete across multiple seasons in a row, opening the door to promotion, relegation, and qualification for European Cup competitions.
- Icon passing from set pieces — Borrowing a concept popularized in other EA sports titles, players could now direct corner kicks and free kicks with much greater precision toward a specific teammate.
- Pass-reliability indicator — A small colored arrow appeared in the direction of an intended pass, changing color based on how heavily defended the intended recipient was.
- On-the-fly defensive adjustments — Players could instantly change their team’s defensive aggressiveness and formation mid-match, even commanding defenders to abandon their marks and pressure the ball directly.
Visually, FIFA 2000 also represented a significant leap forward. Player animations were fully motion captured for the first time, resulting in noticeably more realistic sprinting, tackling, and even bicycle kicks. Combined with improved textures and more varied player body types, it was widely regarded as the best-looking soccer game on PlayStation at the time of release.
A Soundtrack and Presentation Built Around Star Power
Continuing a tradition the FIFA series had built with previous entries, like Blur’s “Song 2” in FIFA 98 and Fatboy Slim’s “Rockafeller Skank” in FIFA 99, FIFA 2000 leaned heavily into music and celebrity tie-ins. British pop star Robbie Williams contributed an entirely original theme song titled “It’s Only Us” for the game, and was even digitally scanned into the game itself, appearing as an animated character singing during the introduction sequence.
As part of the licensing agreement to use his song, EA Sports also included Port Vale, the football club Williams personally supports, despite the team competing outside the leagues the game otherwise featured. The soundtrack was rounded out further with contributions from other artists like Reel Big Fish and Apollo Four Forty.
Commentary With an Authentic British Voice
For UK English releases, FIFA 2000 featured commentary from BBC broadcasters John Motson and Mark Lawrenson, continuing the franchise’s commitment to authentic, region-appropriate presentation. Notably, this marked the first time Motson personally visited EA’s development team in Vancouver, Canada, offering insights directly to the developers to help shape the game’s commentary and overall presentation.
Critical Reception and Commercial Performance
FIFA 2000 was met with largely positive reviews across its main platforms. The PlayStation version in particular was praised by critics, with reviewers highlighting its polished gameplay and describing it as one of the best soccer simulations available on the console at the time. PlayStation Max awarded the PlayStation version a gold rating, specifically praising its visuals, audio, and long-term replay value, though some reviewers noted that scoring goals could feel a bit too easy.
Commercially, the game performed well, selling roughly 500,000 units by the year 2000 and earning a “Platinum” sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association in the UK, reflecting strong regional sales performance.
A Stepping Stone in FIFA’s Long-Term Growth
FIFA 2000 arrived at a pivotal point for the franchise as a whole. By the year 2000, the FIFA series had already sold more than 16 million units worldwide, firmly establishing it as the best-selling soccer video game series on the market, a position it would continue to build on for decades to come. The innovations introduced in FIFA 2000, particularly its move toward more authentic licensing and deeper season structures, helped set expectations for what fans would come to demand from future entries in the series.
Final Thoughts
FIFA 2000 captured a unique moment in gaming history, blending genuine gameplay innovation with a distinctly late-90s sense of pop culture spectacle. Between its newly licensed MLS teams, motion-captured animations, and a soundtrack built around real musical celebrities, it represented a confident step forward for the franchise heading into a new decade, one that helped cement FIFA’s reputation as the dominant force in soccer video games for years to come.