A new year, a new FIFA EA FC. This year, EA Sports FC 26 has a cadre of new Icons to grace the game and modes like Ultimate Team or Player Career, and for the first time even Manager Career as mentioned in the Career Mode deep dive video. Icons are exactly like they sound like - iconic players from the game's past; but we are starting to see more and more players join that list who are from quite recent eras. This year's crop includes players who have only recently retired; like Marcelo (who last played in 2024 but only officially retired just a few months ago in 2025), Iniesta (who hung up his boots last year, in 2024), Alex Morgan (also 2024), Toni Kroos (2024), Ibrahimovic (2023), and Chiellini (2023). But there are also players stretching a bit further back like Sissi (2009) and Kahn (2008). Personally, I'm most excited about Totti, but really want to see the full card to understand if I can play him as a CAM not a striker.
This new crop of Icons will be available from launch in Ultimate Team, and pre-orders will get a free untradeable Icon when you start your team. It looks like this free Icon could be from the new crop, or old favorites like Ronaldo (the real one, the OG) and Henry as well. But like last year with the free pre-order Heroes, the Icons will come in at a lower overall and get a bump to a higher Champion tier and overall stat total in November - so as not to crash the card economy with OP cards coming in too early before the curve catches up. Basically, the cards will start from 85-86 and boost to 88-92, depending on the player. Full details are available on the official site.
EA Sports FC 26 releases September 26th for PC, PS4 and PS5, Xbox One and Series X|S, and Switch. In addition to the free Icon, pre-orders will also get early access to get in to the game a week early, September 19th.
