FIFA 21 Futties guide: Salah, Mane and Mbappe special cards return

FIFA 21 Futties effectively brings the curtain down on another monster season for EA’s footballing behemoth, with FIFA 22 heading our way on October 1. It works as both a FIFA 21 greatest hits package and new content drop, with ‘best of’ cards reappearing in packs, and fan votes being utilised to add fresh items to the game. What else is new, and how exactly does it all work? All is explained in your comprehensive FIFA 21 Futties guide.

FIFA 21 Futties: what is it?

FIFA 21 Futties is an annual tradition which EA skipped in FIFA 20, although the often-maligned publisher had a reasonable excuse: the pandemic saw another series staple, Team Of The Season, placed on hold until the summer due to the delay in completing league campaigns. Now Futties is back. The biggest reason for excitement is the re-release of popular (and often expensive) cards, such as a 96-rated Kevin de Bruyne (CAM, Manchester City) and 94-strong Mo Salah (RW, Liverpool).

Also new to the game via FIFA 21 Futties are Player Pick Fan Votes, Derby Day Team Event Voting, Futties Favourites, and new Weekend League rewards. More on all of those below.

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FIFA 21 Futties: Who is in Team 1?

The first ‘Best Of’ batch dropped into packs on Friday, July 16 and contains the following cards:

Kevin de Bruyne (CAM, Manchester City) - 96 [Team Of The Year]
Karim Benzema (CF, Real Madrid) - 95 [Headliners]
Mohamed Salah (RW, Liverpool) - 94 [UCL Live]
Sadio Mane (ST, Liverpool) - 92 [FUT Freeze]
Raheem Sterling (LW, Manchester City) - 92 [FUT Birthday]
Ngolo Kante (CDM, Chelsea) - 91 [What If]
Giovanni Reyna (RM, Dortmund) - 91 [FUT Future Stars]
Kylian Mbappe (ST, Paris SG) - 91 [Record Breaker]
Harry Kane (ST, Tottenham) - 91 [Halloween]
Ciro Immobile (ST, Lazio) - 91 [TOTY Honourable Mention]
Luis Suarez (ST, Atletico Madrid) - 90 [Ones To Watch]

FIFA 21 Futties: How do Player Pick Fan Votes work?

Throughout the FIFA 21 Futties campaign gamers are tasked with choosing which boosted cards they want most, by selecting from a pair of options when signing into the game or FIFA 21 web app. The first of these votes saw Dani Carvajal pitted against Kostas Manolas, with the winner earning a position change card - either moving Carvajal to LM, or Manolas to CDM.

Carvajal emerged victorious from the particular Player Pick Fan Vote, and his 95-rated item is available as a Squad Building Challenge reward until Friday, July 23.

More similar votes are set to come across the campaign, and there’s still hope for those who chose Manolas over Carvajal. “Nominees that fail to win their respective votes will be considered for Futties “Close Call” Player SBCs towards the end of the campaign,” says EA.

FIFA 21 Futties: What are Derby Day Team events?

Team Events are a largely under-utilised feature of FIFA 21, where you assign yourself to a specific side via the Objectives menu, and then earn rewards linked to that team through gameplay. Derby Day events freshen up the mechanic, with Inter vs Milan first up.

Choose Inter and you unlock a Futties card for Andrea Pinamonti (ST, 68); select Milan and you’re granted Rafael Leao (ST, 74). There are four objectives sets to complete, each unlocking items such as the respective club’s home kit and TIFO. In addition to those club-centric prizes, you earn XP towards the overall prize – a special version of either Pinamonti or Leao.

The rest is self explanatory, but again here’s the official EA word: “The Nominee with the highest XP at the end of the Team Event will win the Futties Vote. That winning Nominee will have a special Futties Winner item available via objectives after the Team Event concludes.”

FIFA 21 Weekend League rewards: what’s changed?

Once more, prizes for competing in FUT Champions are refreshed with FIFA 21 Futties having dropped. Here’s what’s new in each respective tier:

Top 200: Ultimate TOTW Packs are replaced with a TOTS Pack containing 11 TOTS Players from English, French, Italian, German, or Spanish Leagues (the Premier League, Bundesliga, LaLiga, Serie A, and Ligue 1) aka ‘EFIGS’, with a minimum OVR of 91.

Elite 3+: Premium TOTW Packs are replaced with a TOTS Pack containing 3 TOTS Players from EFIGS Leagues with a minimum OVR of 91.

Gold 2+: TOTS Player Pick pack rewards have a minimum OVR of 89. A minimum of 1 TOTS item will be from EFIGS leagues.

Silver 1 & Gold 3: TOTS Player Pick pack rewards now have a minimum OVR of 88.

Silver 2 & Silver 3: TOTS Player Pick pack rewards are capped at 89 OVR.

Silver 3+: All red FUT Champions TOTW items are replaced with red FUT Champions TOTS items from all leagues.

FIFA 21 Futties: What else is new?

Squad Building Challenges and in-game objectives have played major roles in every previous FIFA 21 promo, and that tradition continues with Futties. As discussed above, Dani Carvajal’s 95-rated left midfield card is the first Futties item available through SBCs, and there are certain to be plenty more to come.

Even more exciting is the first objectives reward. English right-back James Tavernier steered Rangers to title glory this season, and his FIFA 21 prize is a 93-rated card with 99 speed. Impressively, you don’t need to play a single online match to earn it, with all four sets of objectives completable in Squad Battles. Expect to see plenty of him between now and September if you’re planning on playing FUT all the way through to FIFA 22.

The second objectives reward is 94-rated Romain Alessandrini (RM, Qingdao Huanghai), with further names certain to be added as the campaign unfolds.

Finally – and brilliantly – engagement rewards are back, rewarding you for past and present play of FIFA 21. The first of these is waiting for you right away, and based upon the number of days in which you’ve played FIFA 21 since its October 6 release. Here’s what you earn:

10 to 70 days: Jumbo Premium Gold Pack
71 to 160 days: Prime Gold Players Pack
161 to 235 days: Rare Mega Pack
236 days: Ultimate Pack

Two more reward drops are coming, based upon how often you play between July 16 and July 25, and July 16 and August 9.