The biggest footballers missing from EA FC 26

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 26/08/2025

EA Sports FC 26 releases next month as the closed beta will end soon.

Rumours are that the player ratings and the top 100 database will be revealed soon.

EA Sports has been showing off plenty of exciting ICONS coming to Ultimate Team, like Zlatan Ibrahimović and Thierry Henry.

But there are also a lot of big-name footballers who are still playing but won’t be included in EA FC 26.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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While there are a lot of new clubs in EA FC 26, thanks to promotions and other factors.

A lot of incredible players, who have competed in the Champions League, have been removed ahead of the next game.

The biggest omission is former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain winger Neymar.

Brazil’s all-time top scorer is still playing in his home country with Santos, where he started his career.

However, negotiations between EA Sports and the Brazilian League for EA FC 26 haven’t progressed.

As a result, the Brazilian League and Neymar won’t be included in the game.

Similarly, there had been rumours that the Liga MX in Mexico was coming to EA FC 26.

However, that doesn’t appear to be the case, so James Rodríguez will also miss out.

Former Liverpool forward Roberto Firmino won’t appear in the game after joining Al Sadd in Qatar.

And another former Premier League star who will miss out is Takehiro Tomiyasu, who is currently without a team.

There have also been some very big-name retirements this year, which will see some fan-favourites missing from EA FC 26.

One of them is Dries Mertens, the skilful Belgian winger who many Ultimate Team players will remember fondly.

As well as Mertens, former Real Madrid and Manchester United defender Raphaël Varane has retired after a season with Como.

The Frenchman won four Champions Leagues and a World Cup during his illustrious career.

Another La Liga alumnus in former Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitić, also announced his retirement just last month.

When will EA FC 26 release player ratings?

EA FC 26 will officially release worldwide on Friday, September 26th on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

Though players who pre-order the Ultimate Edition will be able to play the game a week early, from September 19th.

With the game so close, many fans are waiting for player ratings to be revealed.

Nothing official has been confirmed yet, but some reliable leakers have posted some rumours.

Apparently, Chelsea superstar Cole Palmer will be upgraded to an 86 overall for EA FC 26.

Meanwhile, Everton-loanee Jack Grealish will allegedly be downgraded from an 84 to an 81 overall.  

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

In my seven years of esports writing, I've introuduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I'm most proud of the latter.

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