EA FC 27 cover athlete: Why Kylian Mbappe was chosen by EA Sports for 2026 video game

EA FC 27 cover athlete: Why Kylian Mbappe was chosen by EA Sports for 2026 video game originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

>World Cup 2026 viewers who were unfamiliar with just how good Kylian Mbappe learned 10 separate times why the forward is among the planet's best. Now, the Real Madrid star is returning as the EA FC (formerly known as the FIFA video game franchise) cover athlete.

>The confirmation from the company comes less than a week after Mbappe's France finished in fourth place at the 2026 tournament.

>This will be the fourth time Les Bleus' goal-scoring machine will appear on the video game covers around the world.

>Here's why the French star was selected for the Ultimate Edition's cover.

>MORE: What were the Top 14 moments from the 2026 World Cup?

Kylian Mbappe chosen as EA FC 27 cover athleteOn the heels of Mbappe's stellar World Cup 2026 campaign in which he earned his second-straight Golden Boot award as the tournament's leading scorer, EA Sports FC shared that the Frenchman would return to their video game's covers. This ends a four-year hiatus since the forward was most recently a cover athlete.

Back on the cover. Ready to go again.@KMbappe leads the #FC27 Cover. See the full reveal, July 23: https://t.co/6QAaAVGU75pic.twitter.com/u8zPbxJH2J

— EA SPORTS FC (@EASPORTSFC) July 21, 2026Mbappe was likely chosen as the Ultimate Edition's cover athlete due to his stellar 2025-26 season for his club and country. Across all competitions for Real Madrid, Mbappe accumulated 43 goals and six assists through 47 matches. At the World Cup, he tallied a tournament-leading 10 goals, along with four assists, through 8 appearances. He also became France's all-time leading scorer at the tournament with 22 goals in three campaigns.

Kylian Mbappé - All 22 World Cup goals

Commentary pic.twitter.com/F50Cn7AcUd

— 10 (@Kylian) July 21, 2026This will be Mbappe's fourth time serving as the franchise's cover athlete, which ties him with former Brazilian star Ronaldinho as the player with the most appearances on the soccer game's cover.

>MORE: What were the Top 10 goals from World Cup 2026?

EA FC covers by yearThe best-selling sports video game, as deemed by Guinness World Records, has featured a plethora of faces on its covers. Since 1993's FIFA International Soccer, the game's creators select an athlete, or athletes, who had a strong season to feature on the upcoming year's game.

>Former Manchester United and England forward Wayne Rooney holds the record for the most appearances as a cover athlete during a seven-year span from 2005 to 2011. In 2022, Australian and former Chelsea F.C. Women star Sam Kerr made history as the franchise's first global cover athlete.

>Here is the full list of cover athletes from the franchise's first release in 1993.

YearGameCover athlete(s)1993FIFA International SoccerDavid Platt and Piotr Swierczewski1994FIFA Soccer 95Erik Thorstvedt1995FIFA Soccer 96Ioan Sabau and Andy Legg1996FIFA 97David Ginola1997FIFA Soccer 64Jordi Cruyff1997FIFA: Road to World Cup 98David Beckham1998FIFA 99Dennis Bergkamp1999FIFA 2000Sol Campbell2000FIFA 2001Paul Scholes2001FIFA Football 2002Thierry Henry2002FIFA Football 2003Roberto Carlos, Ryan Giggs, Edgar Davids2003FIFA Football 2004Alessandro Del Piero, Thierry Henry, Ronaldinho2004FIFA Football 2005Patrick Vieira, Fernando Morientes, Andriy Shevchenko2005FIFA 06Wayne Rooney, Ronaldinho2006FIFA 07Wayne Rooney, Ronaldinho2007FIFA 08Wayne Rooney, Ronaldinho2008FIFA 09Wayne Rooney, Ronaldinho2009FIFA 10Theo Walcott, Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard2010FIFA 11Kaka, Wayne Rooney2011FIFA 12Wayne Rooney, Jack Wilshere2012FIFA 13Lionel Messi2013FIFA 14Lionel Messi2014FIFA 15Lionel Messi2015FIFA 16Lionel Messi2016FIFA 17Marco Reus2017FIFA 18Cristiano Ronaldo2018FIFA 19Cristiano Ronaldo2019FIFA 20Eden Hazard2020FIFA 21Kylian Mbappe2021FIFA 22Kylian Mbappe2022FIFA 23Kylian Mbappe, Sam Kerr2023EA FC 24Erling Haaland2024EA FC 25Jude Bellingham2025EA FC 26Jude Bellingham, Jamal Musiala2026EA FC 27Kylian MbappeMORE: Spain, Africa the biggest winners from this year's World Cup