EA Sports has confirmed Kylian Mbappé as the cover athlete for EA Sports FC 27's Ultimate Edition, announced on July 21 across the publisher's channels. The Real Madrid forward also fronts EA Sports FC Mobile. It ends a four-year absence from the franchise cover and marks his first appearance since the series dropped the FIFA name, making him technically a debut FC cover star despite being a franchise veteran.
Worth clarifying a detail that's been muddled in some coverage: this isn't Mbappé's first cover appearance. He appeared on the covers of FIFA 21, FIFA 22, and FIFA 23, a three-year run that ended when the rebrand arrived and EA cycled through Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham twice, and Jamal Musiala.
Mbappé framed it as a milestone. "To be featured on the cover of an EA Sports FC title for the first time is a very special moment for me," he said. "It's an honour to continue my long-term relationship with the franchise in its latest chapter, alongside the players who have shaped its history. I can't wait for everyone to experience FC 27."
Only Half the Cover Story
The reveal covers the Ultimate Edition alone, and EA has said nothing yet about who fronts the Standard Edition, which traditionally sells in vastly greater numbers. That's a deliberate structure the publisher has leaned into recently, with FC 26 pairing Zlatan Ibrahimović on the Ultimate cover against Bellingham and Musiala on Standard. Splitting the reveals lets EA stretch a single announcement across multiple news cycles.
Bellingham is the name most heavily linked to the Standard cover, fresh off a strong England run at the World Cup and another impressive year at Real Madrid, though EA has confirmed nothing.
The Resume Backing It Up
EA leaned on Mbappé's recent form to justify the placement, and the numbers are difficult to argue with.
Jeff Sharma, EA Sports FC's VP of franchise strategy and marketing, said the team was "thrilled to welcome Kylian back," adding that his achievements "have established him as one of the defining players of his generation" and that he "embodies the ambition, creativity and global appeal that defines EA Sports FC today."
Realistically, EA would have locked in its cover athlete months before the World Cup kicked off, so the summer's heroics are a fortunate bonus rather than the reason.
A Week of Reveals
The cover announcement opens a scheduled run of FC 27 news, with a gameplay trailer set for YouTube on July 23. Leaked information from insider billbil-kun points to a September 25 release with early access around September 17 or 18 for Ultimate Edition buyers and EA Play subscribers, priced at $69.99 in the US, though EA hasn't officially confirmed any of that. Persistent rumours also point to a new open-world mode, reportedly called The Grounds, which remains entirely unverified.
There's one more piece of context sitting behind the glossy reveal. A leaked cover image circulating alongside the announcement appears to show a PEGI 16 rating, up from the PEGI 3 every previous entry carried, following PEGI's new framework classifying games with paid random items. If accurate, FC 27 would become the first entry in the series age-gated because of Ultimate Team packs rather than anything on the pitch.
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