[FEEDBACK] - Icon Sir Bobby Charlton

Hi EA_Lanna, appreciate you sharing this. Just wanted to put out what most of us are thinking, and I hope you can pass it along to the right team—especially about how players are released with every new event.

Bobby Charlton—absolute legend of the game. I never got to see him play live, but his name was one of the first I knew from England’s 1966 World Cup win. Older folks always spoke about him as a symbol of resilience and discipline. He was admired, by many.

In-game, back when only base icon cards existed, I used him a lot and faced him hundreds of times. He was smooth, agile, quick—had no weak foot, glided through the midfield like a gazelle, and his finishing was insane. Zidane is just slightly better in CAM, mostly because—height.

Now, about his 104 red-ranked card—still a great player, but let’s be real, after EA updated the gameplay, things have gone off the rails. First touch feels loose, passing accuracy has been a disaster (which we’ve complained about, but no one listens), and we thought through balls were improved—only to now get flooded with kick-off glitch spammers. Forget all that for a second. The most frustrating thing about H2H lately? Not even the cheaters—it's my own players constantly colliding into each other. The penalty box turns into a Royal Rumble.

Look, we love the game, and we’ll keep sharing feedback, but EA needs to start actually making improvements. Right now, it just feels like new events are being pumped out with fresh cards and themes—which is nice—but all that glitters isn’t gold.

Take TOTW for example—Messi, Bruno Fernandes, Fabian Ruiz, Frimpong. Compare their latest cards with their highest-rated ones. Same work rate, same stamina, same traits, same skill moves—just a different card with a higher overall. That’s lazy. TOTW should feel rare and valuable. And let’s be honest—who’s excited about a base 101 overall card in March 2025? Nobody.

Then there’s Star Pass rewards—you give us a 108-rated Khusanov red-ranked card. We pay real money for these passes, and this late in the season, a player that doesn’t even break 110 overall feels like a joke.

Sir Bobby Charlton Challenge Mode—let’s be real, most of us play for the rewards, not because we want the card. 95% of us will just exchange him for shards. I can guarantee that. And since we’re on the topic, these matches take way too long—if you’re giving us a head start, start the timer from the 80th minute, at least.

That’s all for now, but I’ve got more to say when I have time. Just hoping EA actually listens and starts making real improvements. Right now, cards alone aren’t enough to keep players excited.

Oh, and please add the new anniversary kits. Also, fix the fonts, spacing, and size for existing national team kits—some of them look really off.

Thanks!
vlmsa | A Concerned FC Mobile Player

I like the idea, and the challenge was decent—well-balanced with the AI, so skilled players could beat it on the first try. But those are really the only two good things about Icon-Making challenges.

If we’re celebrating certain players, their OVR needs to be higher to give them the respect they deserve, plain and simple. Otherwise, their cards just end up being used for exchanges or sit in the inventory. The ranking doesn’t need to be at 4; it can be lower, so players can use Mascheranos if they want to go higher. However, the base OVR is way too low. I’m not saying they should be bumped up to 107 base or 112 (rank 5/gold), but a 100 OVR Charlton card being raised to 104 feels off and disrespectful to the player, especially considering he has his own standalone challenge. Cards like those from the Heroes event would be a much better fit or even match it up with King/Solskjaer challenges (although that does still feel like OVR too low). Otherwise, Charlton won’t make it into anyone’s lineup unless they’re running a themed team with MUFC or England icons.

His in-game performance is poor too, and after trying a few friendlies, I can already tell he’ll just end up as fodder. It’s the same situation as with Maradona. Sure, it’s nice he’s back in the game, but Charlton's card feels like a waste of time, just like Maradona’s celebration card. Even a lower OVR 97 unranked Gullit, played out of position, performs better than those two. And adding any 100 or below CAM Icon (like 100 Del Piero) is a major upgrade too.

So, yeah, if you want to make a real impact and truly celebrate players with these events, their stats need to go up.

First of all - Thanks EA for bringing Sir Bobby back to the game with a 100 OVR.  It got me super excited even knowing that I could use a decent card of his to compete in my daily quests. 

Reg the challenge -  It's a nice event similar to the King's one with the right amount of difficulty for an average player like me with SF and Final a bit hard to grind out.  Enjoyed the challenge thoroughly. 

Reg the final prize - Rewards are great except for the card itself, i think should have been at par with Heroes Chronicles at least as its a shame lot of people would directly put it in shard exchange.

Added Sir Bobby to my legends squad and played him for my daily quests and I found he is quite good in terms of shooting and positioning.  Passing is decent but receiving could have been a bit better but the general trend of the game is passing/receiving has become difficult recently with defenders having more edge.

Reg the player - What adds to his aura is England were never able to win another cup despite churning out lot of modern greats.  Shows crossing the finish line is not that easy and it needs great performances through out.  I like the story where he talks about coach asking him to track Beckenbauer through out that epic '66 Final and Beckenbauer was similarly given the same instruction about Bobby and they ended up just tracking each other for the entire final.  I like that story so much that I am hoping to get Beckenbauer if you can bring him to the game and play them together for fun.

Hope to see you bring back some of the other greats of the '66 team - Hurst, Banks, Greaves etc so that we can make up a decent replica squad and enjoy the nostalgia.  

b7r4owv30dzg- Your post perfectly highlights why Maradona and Charlton's challenges felt pointless from a card perspective. We were given Heroes at 103/104 with some ranking up, yet these two legendary players received mediocre cards for their mini-event/challenge. Even the challenge for other Neon players rewards the community with a 102 Rank 4 card, but for 95% of the player base, those cards are just fodder. Sure, if you're in the ~5% who will use the card for a themed squad, it might matter, but for most, it's essentially useless. The challenge and player celebration would have felt much more worthwhile if these cards had been at least 102 or 103 OVR. Instead, it feels like a disrespectful move to give those two just 100 OVR cards.
Maradona ended up with 107 card straight after though (albeit not cheap to get but something worthy of his Icon status), Charlton did not which makes it a lot worse as that 100OVR card is the only non-base for Charlton.

dzrtr - Just read your feedback.  Agree with your perspective mate.  Should have been a higher OVR followed by this week's Neon Icon card.  It's just few of us with nostalgia who probably don't want to waste his card As I saw a bug reported yesterday about not being able to exchange the card for Neon shards :(

Thanks dzrtr. It sounds like the idea was good, but we could have nailed the execution of celebrating Sir Bobby better had we gone with higher OVR stats. I'll pass on the feedback. 🙂 It's always good to hear where we could be doing better, so thank you for taking the time to let us know how you found things. 

Hey b7r4owv30dzg, it's great to hear you enjoyed the challenge and added Sir Bobby to your squad. 😄 Thanks for going into the thought process on the OVR and rewards. I'll pass on your feedback, along with the love for other '66 greats like Hurst, Banks, and Greaves being in the game!

Thanks also for popping in one of the stories you love about Sir Bobby. I recently watched that clip where he told that story, he was a good storyteller. Can you imagine having to mark either of those men for TWO hours???! 

Hi vanlalmalsawma, thanks for sharing your thoughts on Sir Bobby Charlton in the game. He's definitely a legend, but I hear what you're saying about the gameplay changes affecting his red-ranked card. I'll pass that on. For the other gameplay points, like H2H, TOTW, and the Star Pass Rewards, while not specific to Sir Bobbie's release, I'll relay your thoughts around those, too. Thanks for taking the time to jot that all down. I appreciate the passion you have for this player and the game. It really comes through.

You still can get them up to appropriate level if Maradona and Charlton cards gets updated