Players of FIFA 23 (open in new tab) have discovered a rare Easter egg hidden in the game: Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny have provided their voices for a bit of friendly trash-talking.

Reynolds and McElhenny are both well-known actors, but this is not a case of traditional celebrity voice acting. They are both famous Hollywood stars as well as owners of the Welsh soccer (or "soccer" as it is called in North America) club Wrexham AFC.

To be clear, Wrexham is not a first-class English team. According to Wikipedia (opens in new tab), the National League, to which Wrexham belongs, is a semi-professional league, the fifth largest in the country, well below the premier league. Although it is a professional sport, people do not line up to buy Lake Erie Crushers merchandise. Although it is a professional sport, people are not lining up to buy Lake Erie Crushers merchandise.

However, in September 2021, Reynolds and McElhenny revealed that Rexam would be included in FIFA 22's "Rest of the World" category.

Rexam then returned in 2023, this time its owner came in for the "shit-talking" McElhenny mentioned in 2021.

One video describes Liverpool FC (one of the most famous clubs in the world and the one that Peter Moore actually dumped Electronic Arts (open in new tab)) as "a tiny, improvised version of a soccer club":

In another, " Polygon" (opens in new tab) described a hint of resentment towards Stockport County, who were promoted from the National League to EFL League Two last year.

The best guess as to why it took over three months for people to notice that Reynolds and McElhenny were in the game is that "nobody noticed because nobody was playing against Wrexham." Of course, it is also possible that there are more R&R voice clips lurking somewhere.