EA FC 26 has received a new SBC (Squad Building Challenge) in early January 2026, featuring a special version of Franz Beckenbauer. EA Sports has released the challenge that awards the “Thunderstruck Icon” card of the legendary German, with a 93 rating, within the Ultimate Team mode. This release serves as a warm-up for the major Team of the Year (TOTY) promotion, which is about to begin. Therefore, players who wish to strengthen their defense or midfield with a historic icon can already pursue the requirements.
However, completing all segments of this SBC comes at a steep price, hovering around 1.5 million in-game coins. Although the card represents a significant improvement over Beckenbauer’s base version, with superior PlayStyles and elite stats to perform both as a center-back and a defensive midfielder, experts are already questioning its cost-effectiveness. With TOTY arriving soon, investing a virtual fortune now may not be the smartest strategy for most Brazilian players.
Requirements and strategy for the SBC
To obtain the German icon, players need to build a series of specific squads, in a process similar to the recent Gareth Bale challenge. The good news is that EA did not require the use of Team of the Week (TOTW) cards in this SBC, which makes planning a bit easier with the players already in the club. On the other hand, the total estimated cost remains very high, demanding a large investment of resources or a lot of time on the transfer market.
Thus, the question for the EA FC 26 community in Brazil is: is this investment worth it? Considering that the Team of the Year cards, which should arrive in the coming weeks, are traditionally some of the strongest of the entire season, many players may prefer to save their coins. Therefore, the final decision largely depends on each player’s virtual budget and their specific passion for the legendary “Kaiser”.
