EA FC 26 FUTTIES: The Chaotic Summer Finale I Did Not Need

I'm just a regular player who logs into EA Sports FC 26 Ultimate Team with roughly the same strategy every year: grind Objectives, hope for pack luck, and pretend I understand the chemistry system. So when FUTTIES rolled around on Friday, 24 July 2026 at 19:00, I knew my club was about to get absolutely flooded. The World Cup delayed the usual schedule, so EA compressed this summer blowout into four weeks instead of five, running until 21 August 2026. Calling FUTTIES 'the last big promo before Pre-Season' is like calling a fireworks finale 'a small sparkler.' It is a full-blown content avalanche.

What Is FUTTIES? I Asked the Same Thing Years Ago

Since FIFA 15, FUTTIES has been the community's favorite summer send-off. It is not technically the final event in EA Sports FC 26 Ultimate Team, because Pre-Season bridges us into the next game, but it is the last massive promo with its own unique special cards. The selling point is simple: EA throws balance out the window. We are talking upgrades up to 99 OVR, 5-star skill moves, 5-star weak foot, five PlayStyles+ (some selectable), and 24 Player Roles++. If you ever wanted a centre-back who can do rainbow flicks, this is your chance.

The event packs in a ridiculous amount of support content: daily login upgrades, Evolutions, SBCs, Objectives, token exchanges, shop offers, and the always dangerous Best of Batch. Best of Batch re-releases hundreds of the best cards from previous promos, so your transfer market watchlist is basically a graveyard of expired cards.

Release Schedule: Four Fridays, Four Giant Batches

EA kept the schedule straightforward. Each Friday at 19:00, a new squad arrives. The first team dropped on 24 July with 40 active players, 7 Icons, and 3 Heroes. Team 2 followed on 31 July, Team 3 on 7 August, and Team 4 is set for 14 August. That is already 200 cards before SBCs, Objectives, Season 9 rewards, and token swaps are added. I expect between 200 and 300 FUTTIES items in total, not counting Best of Batch re-releases.

Release	Date & Time	What Arrives
Team 1	24 July 2026, 19:00	40 active players, 7 Icons, 3 Heroes
Team 2	31 July 2026, 19:00	Another 50 items
Team 3	7 August 2026, 19:00	Third giant batch
Team 4	14 August 2026, 19:00	Final Team release

The team images themselves are a trip. Team 1 gave us Zinedine Zidane, Marc-André ter Stegen, Marquinhos, Barbra Banda, and a bunch of others. Team 2 included Jude Bellingham, Virgil van Dijk, Ronaldinho, Maradona, Zlatan Ibrahimović, and Paul Pogba. Team 3 brought Thierry Henry, Carles Puyol, Eden Hazard, Homare Sawa, Mia Hamm, Joshua Kimmich, Luka Modrić, and more. I am not going to lie, seeing Henry and Puyol in the same FUTTIES batch made me briefly forget that my right-back is still a random 84-rated player from September.

Regular Cards vs Icons/Heroes: What Even Is the Difference?

Here is the short version. Regular FUTTIES cards go to active players and often let you customize the PlayStyles. Icons and Heroes go to retired legends and have fixed PlayStyles, but they bring the usual chemistry link bonus that makes squad building much easier. Both types are silly strong. The bigger question is whether I can afford them, and the answer is usually no.

How Do I Actually Get These Cards?

Packs are the main source, but thank goodness there are other routes. You can earn selected FUTTIES players through SBCs and Objectives. Season 9 offers extra rewards, including Lúcio at level 19 of the Premium Pass, Kenny Dalglish at level 30 of the standard pass for 30,000 SP, and Jairzinho at level 30 of the Premium Pass. There is also a token exchange in the shop. Some examples include Karim Benzema, Luis Suárez, Sam Kerr, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia for 300 Champions Tokens, and Garrincha, Laurent Blanc, and Gianluca Zambrotta for 2,000 FUTTIES Tokens. I would need roughly ten lifetimes to collect 2,000 tokens, but you do you.

SBC and Objectives players trickle out all event. The list includes Frank Lampard, Phil Foden, Marco Reus, Antonio Di Natale, Frenkie de Jong, Fernando Torres, Peter Crouch, Pernille Harder, Federico Chiesa, Jérémy Doku, and more. I cannot confirm whether Peter Crouch has a 99 OVR bicycle kick, but I would absolutely pay to see it.

For packs, the standard rules apply. FUTTIES cards replace the normal versions of those players in packs for the duration of the event. Whether you bought packs with coins or FC Points, earned them from Objectives, or pulled them from SBCs, any pack containing player cards can contain FUTTIES items. Packs with more player cards give you a better chance, but there is no guaranteed FUTTIES card. The specific pack windows match the Friday releases, so if you want Team 1 cards, open during 24–31 July, and so on.

Should You Care?

Yes, if you enjoy watching your club turn into a greatest-hits compilation. Between the regular FUTTIES cards, Icons, Heroes, Best of Batch, and Pre-Season just around the corner, the endgame is as chaotic as it should be. This is not the time to hoard all your packs for next game. It is the time to open them, fail to pack Ronaldinho, and complain on the internet like the rest of us. I may not have millions of coins, but I do have an unhealthy attachment to this promo. See you on the transfer market, where I will be bidding 1,000 coins under the minimum price for a player who will never sell.