FIFA 97

FIFA 97
European PC cover art, featuring David Ginola
DeveloperExtended Play Productions
PublishersEA Sports
Game Boy
Black Pearl Software
ComposersMichael J. Sokyrka
Joel Simmons
Windows
Graeme Coleman
SeriesFIFA
EngineVirtual Stadium
PlatformsWindows, MS-DOS, Game Boy, Mega Drive/Genesis, Super NES, PlayStation, Sega Saturn
Release
20 November 1996
  • MS-DOS, Windows
    • NA: 20 November 1996
    • EU: 22 November 1996
    PlayStation
    • EU: 22 November 1996
    • NA: 13 December 1996
    Mega Drive/Genesis, Super NES
    • NA: November 1996
    • EU: 22 November 1996
    Saturn
    • NA: 20 March 1997
    • EU: 4 April 1997
GenreSports (association football)
ModesSingle-player, multiplayer

FIFA 97 (also known as FIFA Soccer 97) is an association football simulation video game published by EA Sports. It was released for Windows, MS-DOS, PlayStation, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and Mega Drive, in 1996, with the Saturn version to follow in 1997.

FIFA 97 is the fourth game in the FIFA series and the second to use the Virtual Stadium engine. Unlike the first game to use the engine, FIFA 97 features polygonal players as opposed to the 2D sprites used in FIFA Soccer 96. The MS-DOS, Windows, and PlayStation versions were criticized for being sluggish.

Frenchman David Ginola (then a Newcastle United player) was pictured on the cover of the game in the European market. He was also used for motion capture for the polygonal models in the game, while Brazilian Bebeto was on the cover for the Americas and Asia-Pacific markets.