FIFA 20 FUT Birthday guide: upgraded van Dijk, Pogba and Bale cards out now

(Image credit: 2K)

The FIFA 20 FUT Birthday campaign was March's big-ticket event in the planet's most beloved/hated (delete as appropriate depending on your mood) football game. For FIFA 20, EA swapped out jelly and ice cream for upgraded cards, daily objectives, new SBCs, and other player-unlocking challenges. Special items for Paul Pogba and Virgil van Dijk were the gifts every FUT die-hard wanted to open, but other surprises dropped too. Sadly the campaign is now over. However, most cards are still available on the transfer market - as explained in our FIFA 20 FUT Birthday guide. 

What is FIFA 20 FUT Birthday and how does it work?

(Image credit: 2K)

FIFA 20 FUT Birthday was a two-week long campaign which introduced a load of exciting new cards, objectives and other goodies. It occurred at the end of March 2020, to mark 11 years since Ultimate Team was introduced to the series in FIFA 09. 

The main focus, as with all such events, was a big stack of new cards for you to pack or purchase. But there were smaller fun tasks to complete too, such as daily SBCs to unlock fresh packs, and a Seasons XP boost simply for playing two matches each day. You’re not even listening, are you? You just want to know about the cards, don’t you? Right-o. Here’s the deal…

When are FIFA 20 FUT Birthday cards released? 

(Image credit: EA)

The first batch dropped on Friday 27 March. It included 15 players available in packs and on the transfer market, plus an additional four exclusive to in-game challenges. Each player received not only a boosted overall rating, but also an improved week foot and/or skill moves rating. 

Take Kylian Mbappe’s new card. It received an OVR of 94, with ratings of 99 pace, 95 dribbling, and 92 shooting - to go with five-star skill moves, and a five-star week foot. It’s a similar story for Eden Hazard. His new OVR, also of 94, means attributes of 93 pace, 96 dribbling, 90 passing and 90 shooting - with five-star skill moves and a four-star weak foot. 

The second FIFA 20 FUT Birthday team landed on Friday 3rd April, with 11 more players added to packs - Virgil van Dijk being the best rated. His FUT Birthday card has an OVR of 93, broken down to scores of 94 defending, 90 physicality, and 81 pace. Four additional cards arrived via SBCs and gameplay objectives.

How much do FIFA 20 FUT Birthday cards cost?

(Image credit: EA)

Unsurprisingly, Mbappe’s FUT Birthday card is by far the most expensive at time of writing in late April. His new item will set you back an eye-watering, wallet-combusting 5.05 million FIFA 20 coins. Which makes Hazard’s feel like a bargain-bin find by comparison: that one currently sells for 1.1 million coins. [All prices refer to the PS4 transfer market.]

Virgil van Dijk's new card retails at 996,000 coins as I write this. That's actually less than two other cards from the second FUT Birthday team: Paul Pogba (CM, 92) costs 1.6 million, while Gareth Bale (RW, 91) is 1.1 million.

If you’re shopping on a budget, there’s good news. Three very tidy cards are available for under 50,000 coins. Maximilian Eggestein (CM, 86) and Raphael Guerreiro (LM, 87) are both excellent additions to any Bundesliga squad, at 37K and 33K respectively. Nicolas Gaitan (CAM, 85) is also a snip at 19K.

The cheapest Premier League FUT Birthday card belongs to Joao Cancelo (RB, 87), at a still-pretty-hefty 201,000 big ones. 

How else can I acquire FIFA 20 FUT Birthday cards?

(Image credit: 2K)

Across the campaign eight FIFA 20 FUT Birthday cards were accessible through objectives or challenges, rather than through the transfer market. 

The first was Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil (CAM, 90). He was accessible through a set of two Squad Building Challenges which expired on Friday 3 April, as was Jordan Amavi (LB, 86) of Marseille. Gameplay objectives could also be used to acquire Karim Bellarabi (RW, 88) and Lucas Paqueta (CAM, 86). Sadly, those four players are no longer available.

Similarly, Tiemoue Bakayoko (CDM, 88) was available in the second week by completing gameplay objectives in Division Rivals, while you could fulfil specific objectives in Squad Battles to earn Jhon Cordoba (ST, 86). If SBCs are your thing, you could have used that method to nab Steven Bergwijn (RW, 88) and Malang Sarr (CB, 87.) Even later challenges unlocked Kostas Manolas (CB, 89), Rodrigo (ST, 88) and Nick Pope (GK, 87). All have since finished. Sorry!

Is there a full FIFA 20 FUT Birthday cards list?

There most certainly is. Here’s the full set of 37 FIFA 20 FUT Birthday cards:

- Kylian Mbappe (Paris) - ST, 94
- Eden Hazard (Real Madrid) - ST, 94
- Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) - CB, 94
- Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona) - CAM, 92
- Paul Pogba (Manchester United) - CM, 92
- Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) - RW, 91
- Angel di Maria (Paris) - RW, 91
- Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) - ST, 90
- Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) - CAM, 90 [SBC only]
- Kai Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen) - CAM, 90
- Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal) - ST, 90
- Kostas Manolas (Napoli) - CB, 89 [SBC only]
- Muniain (Athletic Club) - CAM, 89
- Douglas Costa (Piemonte Calcio) - LM, 89
- Karim Bellarabi (Bayer Leverkusen) - RW, 88 [Objectives only]
- Lucas Hernandez (Bayern Munich) - CB, 88
- Steven Bergwijn (Tottenham) - RW, 88 [SBC only]
- Moussa Sissoko (Tottenham) - CM, 88
- Allan Saint-Maximin (Newcastle) - RW, 88
- Rodrigo (Valencia) - ST, 88
- Theo Hernandez (Milan) - LB, 88
- Tiemoue Bakayoko (Monaco) - CDM, 88 [Objectives only]
- Raphael Guerreiro (Dortmund) - LM, 87
- Malang Sarr (Nice) - CB, 87 [SBC only]
- Nick Pope (Burnley) - GK, 87 [SBC only]
- Dakonam Djene (Getafe) - CB, 87
- Hirving Lozano (Napoli) - RW, 87
- Joao Cancelo (Manchester City) - RB, 87
- Thomas Lemar (Monaco) - LM, 87
- Danny da Costa (Frankfurt) - RWB, 87
- Lucas Paqueta (AC Milan) - CAM, 86 [Objectives only]
- Nicolas Gaitan (Lille) - CAM, 85
- Joaquin Correa (Lazio) - CF, 86
- Kevin Lasagna (Udinese) - ST, 86
- Maximilian Eggestein (Werder Bremen) - CM, 86
- Jordan Amavi (Marseille) - LB, 86 [SBC only]
- Jhon Cordoba (Koln) - ST, 86 [Objectives only]

Ben Wilson

I'm GamesRadar's sports editor, and obsessed with NFL, WWE, MLB, AEW, and occasionally things that don't have a three-letter acronym – such as Chvrches, Bill Bryson, and Streets Of Rage 4. (All the Streets Of Rage games, actually.) Even after three decades I still have a soft spot for Euro Boss on the Amstrad CPC 464+.