The decision follows the suspension Russian national teams and clubs from all of their competitions by FIFA and UEFA, respectively the world and European governing bodies for football.

In a statement the United States-based company, which is the exclusive partner with FIFA in its field of operation and a division of Electronic Arts, said: "EA Sports stands in solidarity with the Ukrainian people and like so many voices across the world of football, calls for peace and an end to the invasion of Ukraine.

"In line with our partners at FIFA and UEFA, EA Sports has initiated processes to remove the Russian National Team and all Russian clubs from EA Sports FIFA products including: FIFA 22, FIFA Mobile and FIFA Online.

"We’re also actively evaluating related changes to other areas of our games.

"We will keep our communities up to date on any actions taken and thank players for their patience as we work through these updates."

EA Sports' FIFA series is the highest-selling video game franchise in history and it has a sizeable market share in the soccer space over its nearest competitor, Konami, which had sold 111 million copies compared to FIFA's 325 million as of December 2020.

Talks are ongoing between EA Sports and FIFA on a new licensing deal, with the current agreement between set to expire at the end of 2022.

FIFA is looking for a significant increase in its rights fee, reportedly to around $1 billion (£756million/€ 913million) over four years.

Its current licensing fee of $150 million (£113million/€ 137milliion) per year is believe to be the most lucrative commercial agreement in FIFA's portfolio.

It is the second time since the release of FIFA 22 that an original feature of the game has been removed, as references to Manchester United and England footballer Mason Greenwood were scrubbed last month after he was released on bail after being arrested on suspicion of rape, sexual assault and making threats to kill.