Many viewed the 36-year-old Messi lifting the men's FIFA World Cup in Qatar last year as a crowning moment in the argument that he is the greatest player of all time, completing a glittering list of honours at club and country level, which also includes an Olympic gold at Beijing 2008.

Messi is set to remain as the cover star for the game, which became the successor to Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer in 2021, and heads up the eFootball 2024: Leo Messi Edition and Premium Ambassador Pack: Leo Messi, an edition in which users can download eFootball and receive a "Messi Epic" card.

New features in this year's edition of eFootball include boosters to allow users to boost players beyond the usual limit of a 99-rating in their "dream team", and improvements to dribbling and defending.

Partnerships with clubs including English giants Manchester United and Arsenal, Bayern Munich from Germany, Inter Milan and AC Milan from Italy and Barcelona from Spain have also been retained, and venues such as Munich's Allianz Arena, Barcelona's Camp Nou and Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony venue the San Siro remain in the game.

In contrast to its major rival FIFA, which is set to be succeeded by EA Sports FC 24 on September 29 after its final edition FIFA 23 under the previous brand, eFootball is free-to-play and instead opts for in-game purchases.

It can be played on PC, Mac, smartphone, tablet or consoles such as Xbox and PlayStation.

eFootball was one of the titles available at the recent International Esports Federation World Esports Championships in the Romanian city of Iași and at the European Games Esports Championships in Katowice in Poland in June.