FC26 Team of the Year Controversy: Did EA Get It Wrong?

• FC26 Team of the Year: Why Everyone Is Upset
• How the New TOTY Voting System Worked
• The Big Snubs: Salah, Raphinha and Lamine Yamal
• Confirmed TOTY Cards: Dembélé, Mbappé and More
• Who Gets the Third Attacker Spot?
• Declan Rice TOTY: Deserved or Not?
• Community Reaction: Is EA to Blame?
• What This Means for Ultimate Team Players
• How ItemD2R Helps FUT Players Navigate TOTY
• Final Thoughts on EA, TOTY and the Future

FC26 Team of the Year: Why Everyone Is Upset

FC26 Team of the Year (TOTY) should be the most hyped moment of the Ultimate Team cycle. It’s when the community expects the best "blue" cards, huge market swings and weeks of grinding packs. Instead, this year’s discussion has been dominated by one question: did EA completely mess up Team of the Year?

Leakers and community insiders are now widely reporting that Lamine Yamal, Mohamed Salah and Raphinha will not receive TOTY items in FC26. Given their seasons and statistics, that outcome has shocked a lot of players and raised serious doubts about how the voting was designed and how final decisions were made.

At the same time, we already have strong signals that Ousmane Dembélé and Kylian Mbappé will feature, and that Declan Rice has been selected as a TOTY card as well. This mix of expected picks and unexpected omissions has created one of the most controversial TOTY line-ups in years.

How the New TOTY Voting System Worked

The root of the controversy isn’t only who made the team, but how the voting was structured. EA introduced a system that, on paper, was meant to give fans more control. In practice, it appears to have confused voters and potentially hurt several high-profile players.

Wingers Listed as Midfielders

One of the strangest changes was the way players were assigned positions on the ballot. Instead of appearing in their natural roles, some of the game’s most dangerous wide attackers were placed in central midfield slots:

• Lamine Yamal listed as a central midfielder
• Raphinha offered as a CDM option
• Mohamed Salah shown as another central midfielder

To most football fans, these picks look completely unnatural. Yamal, Raphinha and Salah are widely viewed as wingers or wide forwards, not players who control the middle of the pitch. When casual and even hardcore voters saw them in midfield categories, many simply skipped them in favor of more traditional central players.

Why This Position Choice Matters

Placing elite attackers in midfield categories had two major consequences:

• Reduced vote share: Fans looking for natural CMs and CDMs focused on players they actually consider midfielders, shrinking the vote pool for Yamal, Raphinha and Salah.
• Perception problem: When a player doesn’t "fit" the role on the ballot, voters instinctively treat them as the wrong choice, even if their real-life season was phenomenal.

The result? Three of the most exciting wide players in world football reportedly miss out on TOTY, not because of poor performances, but because of questionable ballot design.

The Big Snubs: Salah, Raphinha and Lamine Yamal

According to multiple reliable leakers such as "Foot Sheriff" and others in the FC community, this year’s Team of the Year will not feature Lamine Yamal, Raphinha or Mohamed Salah. For many players, that’s difficult to accept when you look at their numbers and impact.

Mohamed Salah: Elite Output, No TOTY

Mohamed Salah’s recent Premier League season was exactly what you would expect from a world-class forward. Stat lines around 29 goals and 18 assists in league play put him in an elite bracket for both scoring and creating. Those are the sort of numbers that, in past years, would almost guarantee a TOTY item.

Instead, the voting system pushed him into a midfield pool where he doesn’t naturally fit. Surrounded by traditional central players, his case was weakened in the eyes of many voters. It’s not that he stopped performing; it’s that the framework failed him.

Raphinha: Huge Champions League Season Overlooked

Raphinha might be the most frustrating omission of all. Across league and European competition, he delivered a level of output that demanded recognition. Around 30 goal contributions in 36 games is elite on its own, but his Champions League return was even more eye-catching: roughly 13 goals and nine assists in 14 matches.

For a wide attacker operating against top European defenses, those are Team of the Year level numbers. Yet by being listed in roles like CDM, he became a "weird" choice for many voters, who preferred classic defensive midfielders when completing their ballots.

Lamine Yamal: A Lost First TOTY Moment

Lamine Yamal’s reported exclusion hits on a different emotional level. For a young player performing at such a high standard, his first TOTY card would have been a special moment both for him and for FC26 players eager to build squads around the next generation of stars.

Instead, we are looking at a scenario where all three — Yamal, Raphinha and Salah — are left out of the final TOTY, not because of form, but because the structure of the vote didn’t reflect their real positions. Many in the community see this as a missed opportunity and a clear design failure by EA.

Confirmed TOTY Cards: Dembélé, Mbappé and More

It’s not all bad news. The leaks also point to some picks that most of the community will welcome, especially in attack.

Ousmane Dembélé: Ballon d’Or Winner Goes Blue

Multiple sources indicate that Ousmane Dembélé is getting a Team of the Year card in FC26 Ultimate Team, with some suggesting that his Ballon d’Or win played a big role in securing his place. From a gameplay perspective, this makes a lot of sense:

• 5★ skill moves and agility translate into a devastating card in-game.
• His TOTY rating is rumored in the 97–98 range, with some even speculating about a 99 overall, though that might be reserved for later in the cycle.

Regardless of the final number, a TOTY Dembélé will be one of the most feared attackers in FC26, especially in Weekend League and high-division Rivals.

Kylian Mbappé: The Undisputed Headliner

It would be more shocking if Kylian Mbappé didn’t make Team of the Year. Leaks strongly suggest that Mbappé is locked in for a TOTY item, either at striker or left wing. In previous games, TOTY Mbappé has defined the meta, and there’s no reason to think FC26 will be different.

A TOTY Mbappé card means:

• End-game pace and dribbling from day one of the promo.
• Massive demand on the transfer market.
• A huge gap between teams that can afford him and those that can’t.

His inclusion is expected, but it also puts even more pressure on EA’s other attacking picks. When one or two spots are practically guaranteed, every remaining slot becomes a high-stakes decision.

Who Gets the Third Attacker Spot?

If Dembélé and Mbappé are both in, the natural question is: who is the third attacker? With Salah, Yamal and Raphinha reportedly out, the field opens up in a big way.

Kane, Haaland, or Someone Else?

Two obvious candidates emerge based on real-world performances and fan discussion:

• Harry Kane – A massive goal tally in domestic and European competitions, excellent link-up play and leadership. Kane represents the classic number 9 with extraordinary consistency.
• Erling Haaland – Another freakish scoring season, breaking records and dominating any xG chart you look at. Haaland is a constant threat on goal and a marketing dream.

There has also been speculation about another PSG or high-profile forward potentially sneaking into the final XI. Adding to the complexity, insiders say that Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo both received votes, meaning they can’t be fully ruled out, even with a new generation supposedly taking over.

The tension around this third spot is amplified because, for many fans, it feels like it came at the expense of Salah or Raphinha. If a less deserving name appears in that slot, the backlash will only grow.

Declan Rice TOTY: Deserved or Not?

Towards the end of the leak cycle, community sources reported what some are calling “breaking news”: Declan Rice has a TOTY card. The reaction has been mixed.

On the one hand, Rice had a very strong year for Arsenal. He’s been a stabilizing presence in midfield, improved his offensive contribution and played a crucial role in tightening up the team’s structure. From an analytical point of view, a TOTY-level season can be argued.

On the other hand, when fans compare his selection with the absence of Salah, Raphinha and Yamal, the decision feels harder to justify. Many players are asking themselves:

• Is Rice’s season truly more deserving of a TOTY spot than these high-output attackers?
• Did EA choose balance over pure performance — preferring a classic holding midfielder in the XI?
• Or did the position-based voting distort the outcome to the point where some attackers were never realistically going to get in?

Whether you believe Rice fully deserves his TOTY or not, his inclusion has become a central talking point in the wider debate about how fair this year’s selection really is.

Community Reaction: Is EA to Blame?

Across social media, Discord servers and forums, the reaction to these leaks has been intense. The core criticism is that EA’s structure, not fan opinion, caused the chaos.

Many players argue that if you allow voters to pick from realistic positions — wingers as wingers, central players as central — people will naturally reward the season’s best performers. But when forwards appear as CMs or CDMs, the average fan doesn’t want to "waste" their midfield slot on a player they don’t see as a true midfielder.

Some content creators have referenced prediction lists allegedly only three names away from the final team. The game now becomes guessing which three picks were off — and for a lot of people, the absence of Raphinha, Salah and Yamal will always feel like a mistake, regardless of how accurate predictions were elsewhere.

There is also a strong push from the community for EA to consider solutions such as:

• Using a more flexible position system that reflects players’ actual roles over the season.
• Introducing a 12th Man vote that specifically addresses high-profile snubs like Salah or Raphinha.
• Communicating more transparently about how much the fan vote actually influences the final XI compared to internal decisions.

What This Means for Ultimate Team Players

Beyond the debate and drama, TOTY always has real gameplay and market implications. For Ultimate Team players, this year’s controversy means a few practical things:

• Meta shifts: With Dembélé and Mbappé confirmed, expect these cards to instantly shape the competitive meta.
• Fewer wide options: Without TOTY Salah or Raphinha, squads that rely on elite right-sided attackers will have fewer top-end choices.
• Price volatility: Market prices may spike even harder on the remaining elite wingers, as demand concentrates on a smaller pool of cards.
• Pack strategies: Players may adjust their pack-opening timing or SBC investments depending on which TOTY cards are actually in packs at any given time.

All of this makes resource management — from coins to club fodder — more important than ever. Making the right moves during TOTY can define your squad for months to come.

How ItemD2R Helps FUT Players Navigate TOTY

With so much uncertainty around the TOTY squad and the transfer market moving quickly, many FC26 players are looking for ways to stay competitive without sinking endless hours into trading or grinding low-value objectives. This is where platforms like ItemD2R.com become especially relevant.

Instead of relying purely on pack luck during one of the most demanding promos of the year, you can reinforce your club’s balance by safely purchasing in-game currency. For example, if you play on Microsoft’s console, you can buy fc26 coins xbox through ItemD2R and immediately upgrade key positions in your squad. This is particularly valuable in a TOTY cycle where certain attackers are missing and the remaining meta options become incredibly expensive.

ItemD2R focuses on delivering fast, secure and reliable coin transactions, helping players react to market trends in real time. When leaks confirm a TOTY Mbappé or a surprise inclusion like Declan Rice, prices can rise quickly; having access to additional fc coins gives you the flexibility to buy before the hype peaks, or to invest when others are panic selling. For players who want to enjoy the full experience of TOTY — trying out top-tier cards, experimenting with new formations, and staying competitive in Division Rivals and Weekend League — this extra flexibility can make a noticeable difference.

Of course, smart club management still matters. It’s wise to combine responsible coin purchases with good SBC decisions, timely selling of high-value fodder, and staying informed about upcoming mini-releases. But with a trusted supplier like ItemD2R in your toolbox, you aren’t forced to rely solely on luck to keep up with TOTY power creep. Instead, you can build the kind of squad that matches your ambitions, even in a year when EA’s voting system has left many fans and players feeling frustrated.

Final Thoughts on EA, TOTY and the Future

This FC26 Team of the Year is shaping up to be one of the most controversial in recent memory. On one side, we have mouth-watering cards like TOTY Dembélé, Mbappé and a powerful Declan Rice. On the other, we have the glaring absence of stars like Mohamed Salah, Raphinha and Lamine Yamal, whose seasons arguably deserved recognition.

The common thread running through all of this is the voting system and position design. By placing wingers in central midfield slots, EA may have unintentionally sabotaged the chances of some of the world’s best attackers. Going forward, many in the community hope for a more transparent, position-accurate approach to TOTY selection, and perhaps a stronger role for community votes in deciding the final XI and 12th Man.

For Ultimate Team players, the best response is to stay informed, manage your club wisely and be ready to adapt. Whether you’re grinding packs, investing in the market, or supplementing your budget with platforms like ItemD2R, TOTY remains one of the most exciting — and most demanding — periods in the FC26 calendar. Even if EA didn’t get every pick right, this promo will still define the meta for months to come.