Being the cover star of a major sports video game is a pretty sure sign that you’ve “made it” as a top athlete.
For years, football and gaming fans have been engulfed in the world of EA Sports’ FIFA series and before that Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer/PES, with new cover stars selected to lead each iteration of the games.
From Wayne Rooney and Ronaldinho to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the player on the front page is very important.
Think about how iconic the top sports video games are and how many people have played them over the years.
So many football fans have incredible memories of playing for hours in FIFA and PES and their various modes over the years, often remembering their favorite versions of the game on the front cover.
But how can companies expect a game to be remembered as iconic if the player up front isn’t an undisputed megastar in and of itself?
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That’s exactly why Sean Dundee’s World Club Football, a 1997 release, probably never took off the way the developers expected.
What is that? You have never heard of Sean Dundee’s World Club Football? Have you never heard of Sean Dundee? blasphemous.
We’re kidding, of course. You’ll be forgiven for not having heard of a video game based on a striker leaving Liverpool after a year, five appearances and zero goals. But it really happened. Seriously.
Who is Sean Dundee?
Born in Durban, South Africa, Dundee is a former footballer who built a nearly 30-year senior career as a professional, playing as a striker and once representing the B-team of the German national team.
His football career started well in Germany when he signed for Stuttgarter Kickers in 1992, and by 1995 he had worked his way up to the Bundesliga, signing for Karlsruher SC.
Dundee took on the challenges of top German football like a duck to water, scoring 16 league goals in his first season with Karlsruher and scoring a further 20 league goals in the next two campaigns, establishing himself as a prolific forward with his best years ahead. the bow of him in a top European competition.
Sean Dundee’s video game
Perhaps it was a little premature, but at a time when sports video games were still popular, it probably wasn’t all that surprising to see Dundee become the cover star of a football simulation game developed for PC by Ubisoft in 1997.
But they went one step further than just sticking it on the front of the game; they also named it after him. Thus “Sean Dundee’s World Club Football” was born.
DONE DEAL: It’s been 20 years this summer #LFC signed Sean Dundee.
An abomination at Anfield, he is also the most obscure footballer to have a video game named after him when “Sean Dundee’s World Club Football” was released on PC. pic.twitter.com/flu1dgQNGd
— A funny old game (@sid_lambert) July 18, 2018
When Liverpool needed a new striker in the summer of 1998 to bolster their attack and cover for an injured Robbie Fowler, they signed a prolific and proven Bundesliga forward with credit for being good enough to play as a football video game cover star for sure. perfect.
Flop at Liverpool
And for just £2 million, Gerard Houllier and Roy Evans probably thought they’d gotten the bargain of the century; a proven goal getter and a player with commercial appeal.
However, it soon became clear that he was definitely not suited for the job. And far from a commercial advantage.
It was clear Liverpool realized they’d had a bit of a nightmare the moment they saw their new striker on the training ground as he went on for months and months without making his Premier League debut, unable to break through in the flank over Michael Owen and Karl-Heinz Riedle. And when Fowler returned from injury, it was clear he was on borrowed time.
Dundee finally managed to rack up some Premier League minutes in April of the 1998/99 season, but would only make three league appearances, making a total of 37 minutes for Liverpool. Add that to the lofty performances of each in the FA Cup and League Cup – again without scoring – and it sums up a truly bizarre and rather miserable period at Anfield, which ended in the summer of 1999.
What happened to Dundee after leaving Liverpool?
He returned to Germany after just one season and signed for VfB Stuttgart, but it was clear the failed move to the Premier League had shattered him. Struggling for form, he moved to Austria Wien in 2003, where he failed to score in 18 appearances before returning to Karlsruher in 2004, which had since fallen back into the German second division.
Despite such a difficult run, and one in which Dundee played at fairly low levels after a brief success in the 90s, no one can ever take away the fact that he was a Liverpool player and, crucially, the cover star of a video game that was named after him in 1997. Since then he has also done commentary and punditry for the Bundesliga, in more recent years.
The game may not have taken off, but it’s always a cool memory to have if nothing else.
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