The Gauntlet is live again in FC 26 Ultimate Team, and this version comes with something genuinely new. For the first time in the mode’s history, completing the Gauntlet objectives gives you a path to earn a 4 PlayStyle Plus Icon through in-game objectives, with no coins and no SBC fodder required.

FC 26 Ultimate Team: World Cup Gauntlet & Content Master Sheet

The World Cup Gauntlet went live today, Monday, June 15, 2026, as part of The World’s Game tournament ecosystem. Breaking from format history, clearing these multi-squad nodes unlocks a direct path to a powerful 4-PlayStyle Plus Icon entirely via gameplay, completely bypassing market coins or heavy SBC duplicate fodder commitments.

Feature CategoryLive Requirements & Upgrade TrackerMobile-Optimized StrategyUltimate Team Meta Verdict

World Cup Gauntlet

(5-Round Engine)

• Expanded to 5 rounds total (up from 4).

• Requires 85 total unique items across all unique starting XIs and benches.

• 14 entries permitted across the event lifecycle.

Draft Deep Rosters: Spread your elite pace and meta stars horizontally. Front-loading Round 1 leaves your team depleted for later gates. Pushes club depth to the limit. Win states stack player picks, pack allocations, and exclusive World Cup token caches.

Brazilian Journey

(Free R9 Tracker)

• Attack: Score exactly 30 goals on Beginner Squad Battles.

• Defense: Clean sheet on Legendary SB; allow $\le 3$ goals vs. Featured.

The Possession Hack: Run a 5-back formation filled with natural CBs. Pass wide across your backline to run out the AI clock. Hidden deep inside the Journey of Nations tab. Yields a massive 20-game loan World Cup Icon R9 alongside raw picks.

99-Stat PTG Upgrades

(Monday Live Drops)

• Germany: Nmecha & Musiala

• Sweden: Isak & Elanga

• Ivory Coast: Ahmad & Kessie

• Australia: Irvine Kundai (+99 Sprint Speed)

Sell into the Hype: Open market prices spike instantly pre-kickoff. Cut items loose before matches to protect your liquid coin values. Active tournament metrics apply. Note that Japan vs. Netherlands finished in a draw, stalling instant upgrades for Cody Gakpo.

A. Putellas SBC

(End of an Era)

• Cost: 18 separate chemistry squads (~950k–1.1M coins).

• Stats: 4x PS+, 5-Star Skills, 5-Star WF, multi-positional.

Take Your Time: This craft window remains active until July 5, 2026. Do not dump liquid assets during weekend league supply squeezes. An elite, press-resistant utility engine. Skip if you already hold her high-tier TOTS blueprint or active Festival variations.

Greats of the Game

(Friday June 19 Promo)

• Headline Leaks: R9 (97 OVR ST), Rivellino, Mario Kempes.

• Mechanics: Hard-locked static cards; zero live upgrades.

Liquidate Legacy Icons: Dump older Trophy Titans or base campaign Icons now before the Friday market drop collapses asset values. The R9 leak forecasts a staggering baseline layout: 98 Pace, 96 Shooting, 97 Dribbling, and 87 Physicality.

Fodder Menu Loop

(The Economy Craft)

• Common Golds: Throw into Daily Provisions.

• Rare Golds: Cycle into the active 84×2 Upgrade Packs.

Avoid the 83+ Pick: The 84×2 menu item yields substantially better high-tier fodder returns to feed into your 85×10 matrices. 89-rated fodder sits frozen around 5,000 coins due to targeted crafting pressure draining central CAM/CM positions from clubs.

This is not a pack luck situation. It is an objective reward tied to the World Cup Gauntlet that launched today, Monday June 16, 2026, as part of The World’s Game update that has been running in FC 26 since June 4.

If you have been grinding tokens or sitting on your Gauntlet entries, today is the day to use them. The sections below cover exactly what is live, what PTG cards are getting upgraded right now, and what the Alexia Putellas SBC is actually worth.

What the World Cup Gauntlet Actually Looks Like This Time

The biggest structural change to this Gauntlet compared to every previous version is the round count. EA has expanded it to 5 rounds, up from the 4 rounds seen in the last several iterations.

Each round requires a completely separate starting squad and bench. That means you need 85 total unique players across all five squads to play through the full event. You still get 14 entries total, so the math on winning matters. If you spread those 14 entries across 5 rounds, playing smart and targeting wins early is the correct approach.

Based on how previous Gauntlets have worked in FC 26, rewards scale by what you accomplish per round. Playing one game unlocks basic packs. Scoring and winning across more games stacks better packs, player picks, and Evo unlocks. The full reward breakdown for this specific World Cup Gauntlet will be confirmed once EA pushes the live objectives today.

One question every FUT player should check immediately after logging in: does this Gauntlet award World Cup Tokens? Squad Battles, Rivals, and other live events all currently give tokens, and a 5-round Gauntlet would be a logical place to earn them. If confirmed, and you have already claimed your weekly 1,000 tokens, you may want to hold those tokens rather than spend them until you see the full token store offering.

Free R9 on Loan: The Brazilian Journey of Nations Objective

Separate from the Gauntlet, EA dropped a Brazilian-themed objective inside the Journey of Nations section on Sunday. It is not listed in the standard Objectives tab, so a lot of players have missed it.

Completing it earns you R9 on loan for 20 games plus a selection of player picks. This is the first time a World Cup Icon has been obtainable this way in FC 26.

Here is what each task requires:

Attacking side:

  • Score exactly 30 goals on Beginner difficulty in Squad Battles

  • This can be stacked alongside Speedrun objectives at the 15, 20, and 25 goal marks for extra player picks

Defensive side:

  • Concede zero goals against Legendary difficulty in Squad Battles

  • Concede three or fewer goals against the Featured Squad

The community workaround for the defensive challenges is running a full center-back squad in a 5-back formation and playing possession football. Pass it around wide, do not commit to challenges, and do not let the AI get the ball in dangerous areas. It sounds strange but it works.

These objectives also contribute to your Squad Battles medal tally for the week, so nothing is wasted even if you are not targeting the token rewards.

Every PTG Card Getting a 99-Stat Upgrade Today

Path to Glory cards update automatically based on real World Cup results, and Monday’s upgrades are stacking up across multiple nations.

Germany (7-1 vs Curaçao):

  • Nmecha: 99-stat upgrade

  • Musiala: 99-stat upgrade

Sweden (5-1 vs Tunisia):

  • Isak: 99-stat upgrade

  • Elanga: 99-stat upgrade

Ivory Coast (win vs Ecuador):

  • Ahmad: 99-stat upgrade (scored in the match)

  • Kessie: 99-stat upgrade

Australia (win vs Turkey):

  • Irvine Kundai: 99 Sprint Speed confirmed

Japan and Netherlands drew, so Gakpo and Frenkie de Jong received no upgrades from that result. De Jong dropped from 3.1 million coins to around 2.9 million during the match as people sold off. If you hold a Dutch PTG card, a draw or loss hurts in the short term but does not remove the card’s upgrade potential for future group stage games.

How PTG Upgrades Work (Quick Reference)

For anyone new to Path to Glory cards in this cycle:

Result Upgrade 1 Group Stage Win 1 attribute raised to 99 3 Group Stage Wins 1 more attribute to 99 Reach Round of 32 +1 OVR Reach Round of 16 +1 PlayStyle Plus (up to 4) Quarter-Finals 5-star Weak Foot and Skill Moves Semi-Finals +1 OVR Final 1 face stat to 99 Win the tournament 99 OVR, 5th PlayStyle Plus

Is the Alexia Putellas End of an Era SBC Worth Doing?

EA dropped the Alexia Putellas End of an Era SBC on Sunday, tied to her departure from FC Barcelona.

The card itself is legitimately good. Four PlayStyles Plus, five-star weak foot, five-star skills, and all roles for the positions she plays. Her base gold card is already one of the most meta-rated player cards in the game.

The problem is the price. The SBC requires 18 squads, and the current estimated coin cost sits at roughly 957,000 to 1.1 million coins depending on fodder efficiency and market timing. Her Team of the Season version and Festival of Football Winners card are both available at a significant discount compared to this one, with only the PlayStyle Plus count being the real difference.

The SBC is available until July 5, 2026, so there is no rush to panic-complete it today.

Who should do it:

  • Players with a large fodder reserve looking to clear it

  • Anyone building a meta women’s squad or box-to-box option

  • People who have an emotional connection to her legacy at Barca

Who should skip it for now:

  • Players saving coins for the Greats of the Game promo launching June 19

  • Anyone who already owns her TOTS or Festival of Football Winners card

  • Players without enough fodder to complete it cleanly without coin spending

Greats of the Game Is Coming Friday. Here’s What’s Leaked

The next big Ultimate Team promo, Greats of the Game, is expected to go live on Friday, June 19, 2026.

Confirmed leaks so far point to Ronaldo Nazário (R9) as a headline card, with Rivellino and Mario Kempes also reportedly included. The latter two are also set to receive their Base Icon versions in packs on June 26.

One thing to know before you spend heavy this week: Greats of the Game cards are reportedly not live items and will not upgrade after release. What you pack or buy is the final version.

Leaked predicted stats for the R9 Greats of the Game card (not officially confirmed by EA as of June 15, 2026):

Attribute Predicted Rating Overall 97 (ST) Pace 98 Shooting 96 Passing 88 Dribbling 97 Defending 49 Physical 87

If you are currently holding expensive Icon cards from Trophy Titans or earlier promos that overlap with the Greats of the Game rumored names, selling now before Friday is the safer play. A new, potentially higher-rated version of the same Icon tends to tank the older card’s market price quickly.

Market Watch: What’s Moving and Why

The Putellas SBC is pulling mid-tier center mids and central attacking mids down as players drain fodder to complete it. Vinicius Jr. dropped from 1.5-1.6 million on Saturday and Sunday to around 1.3-1.4 million by Monday morning.

89-rated fodder has climbed to approximately 5,000 coins per card as crafting demand rises.

For the most coin-efficient fodder grind right now, the menu loop that is working best is:

  1. Collect gold commons from Provisions Packs and daily gold upgrades

  2. Put them into 77×5 packs to generate rares

  3. Feed those rares into 84×2 upgrade packs

  4. Use the resulting fodder for 87x5s, 84x10s, and 85x10s

The 84×2 packs are currently giving better returns per card than the 83+ Summer Tournament Player Pick, so prioritise those if you are stacking fodder for either the Putellas SBC or the Greats of the Game launch this week.

Today’s World Cup games include Spain vs Cape Verde, Belgium vs Egypt, Iran vs New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia vs Uruguay. Cards for Leao, KDB, Marmush, and Araujo are the ones most players are watching. PTG cards tend to spike in price as their nation’s game approaches and drop sharply on a draw or loss. Selling before kickoff and rebuying post-result has been the safer play throughout this promo cycle.