EA FC 26: Franz Beckenbauer SBC lands in Ultimate Team — is it worth it?

EA FC 26 received a new SBC (Squad Building Challenge) in early January 2026, bringing a special version of Franz Beckenbauer. EA Sports released the challenge that grants the legendary German’s Thunderstruck Icon card, rated 93, in Ultimate Team mode. This launch works as a warm-up for the big Team of the Year (TOTY) promo, which is about to begin. As a result, players looking to bolster their defense or midfield with a historic icon can already start chasing the requirements.

However, completing every segment of this SBC comes at a steep price, running at around 1.5 million in-game coins. Although the card is a significant upgrade over Beckenbauer’s base version, with superior PlayStyles and elite stats to play both as a center-back and as a defensive midfielder, experts are already questioning its value for money. With TOTY arriving soon, spending a virtual fortune now may not be the smartest strategy for most Brazilian players.

Requirements and strategy for the SBC

To unlock the German icon, players must 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 with the players already in your club a little easier. On the other hand, the estimated total cost remains extremely high, demanding a major investment of resources or a lot of time on the transfer market.

So the question for the EA FC 26 community in Brazil is: is this investment worth it? Considering that the Team of the Year cards, expected in the coming weeks, are traditionally among the strongest of the entire season, many players may prefer to save their coins. The final decision therefore depends largely on each player’s virtual budget and their particular passion for the legendary Kaiser.