Irish football fans will soon be able to get over the misery of Ireland's failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup with EA Sports set to release a World Cup expansion pack on FIFA 18 in the coming weeks.

In the past, EA released separate games for the summer competitions, starting with World Cup 98, which followed on from the iconic FIFA: Road to World Cup 98.

However, according to Goal, this year gamers will be able to enjoy the World Cup mode at no extra cost as it will be available to download for FIFA 18.

This follows the same strategy EA Sports used for the last World Cup in Brazil 2014 as they released a free update for FIFA 14 Ultimate Team with a new World Cup themed game mode.

The update will initially be available to play on Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows, and is expected to be available either later this month or in March.


The patch will include all 32 teams who qualified for the tournament, the latest rosters, kits, licensed stadiums as well as special commentary.

Spanish commentator Manolo Lama - who provides commentary on Spanish version of the game - revealed last September that he was set to record his lines for the update, which would be available in the coming weeks.

"I have to record it for FIFA World Cup in December, I think it will be out in February or March," he told Spanish radio station Radio COPE.

The 2018 World Cup takes place in Russia this summer, with the opening game of the tournament set to kick off on June 14.