How to Complete FC 26 Squadra Azzurra Objective Fast (3 Matches, Maldini Reward)

Squadra Azzurra dropped on June 28 as the Italy entry in the Festival of Football Journey of Nations. Eight tasks, all stackable, and the full set drops a Loan Maldini (89 OVR, 20 games) plus a 89+ Rare Gold Player Pick. With the right squad in Squad Battles you can knock the whole thing out in three matches — one Beginner farm for goals, one Legendary clean sheet, one Ultimate damage-control. Here is exactly how.

Full task list and rewards

All rewards are untradeable, but the 89+ player pick and the loan Maldini alone justify the grind — that pick alone has a ~600-800K equivalent rare gold ceiling. Beginner difficulty grinding is generous enough that the score-15 / 20 / 25 lines stack with the score-30 task in the same match.

The 3-match plan (under 45 minutes total)

Match 1 — Beginner difficulty, score exactly 30 goals

This single match clears Pizzica, Tarantella, Saltarello and Trescone in one go. Beginner CPU defenders barely contest dribbles, so park your striker on the halfway line and just keep tap-passing back to him after each kickoff. Important: stop at 30 goals exactly. Reports from FUT players on day one say going over 30 corrupts the Trescone counter (it locks at "completed" but Saltarello will count, then the game can drop frames). Pause at 28-29 and finish on a tap-in to hit exactly 30. Run an Argentina-friendly squad here — Squadra Azzurra is full of Italian icons in dynamic difficulty, so Beginner removes the chemistry headache.

Match 2 — Legendary difficulty, win with zero conceded

Clears Catenaccio + Win 1 World Class + Win 1 Professional in one match (a Legendary win counts toward all three because it's "minimum" of each lower tier). Run your strongest defensive squad with a CDM behind a CDM, drop your formation depth to 60, manual sub your full-backs to invert if you have the cards. Park-the-bus tactic: defensive style on the bench, no pressing past your half. Score one early, then 80-minute time-waste. If you concede, restart the match — it's the only task in the set that requires a clean sheet, so partial credit doesn't exist.

Match 3 — Ultimate difficulty, win and concede ≤ 3

Clears the last task, Difesa. The CPU at Ultimate plays one-touch passes, but 3 conceded is generous. Use the same defensive squad as Match 2 — if you went 0-0 at Legendary you can usually 2-1 at Ultimate by playing slow possession from the back and shooting from the edge of the box (the AI gives up that shot easily). If you're rusty at Ultimate, switch to tiki-taka short passing with low width and just hold the ball — the CPU will run out of stamina by minute 70 and start ball-watching.

Best Italian players to chase from the rewards

Maldini (Loan, 89 OVR CB)

And for that Italian flair to actually stick in the squad:

The 20-game loan is a watered-down version of the full Maldini Greats of the Game card you can see above (97 OVR), but even the loan version comes with elite CB stats and a 5★ WF. Slot him in for the 20 games and your defensive line solves itself. If you fall in love with him during the loan, the full GotG card is the long-term keeper.

Federico Chiesa — FC Pro (86 OVR RM)

If you want to keep the Italian flavor going in your squad after this objective, Chiesa FC Pro is the cheapest meta Italian winger — 86 OVR, RM++, and links neatly to any Italy-based squad. Pair him with Lautaro from the Argentina squad and you cover both Journey of Nations themes.

Bottom line

Squadra Azzurra is the most reward-dense Journey of Nations objective so far — eight tasks, three matches, a loan Maldini and a 89+ pick at the end. Beginner difficulty cheese for the goals, Legendary park-the-bus for the clean sheet, Ultimate damage-control for the last. Burn 45 minutes tonight and you're done.