Things have become messy.
The rollout of the EA Sports FC 24 Messi Team of the Year (TOTY) card has caused a mess within the game’s community.
Each year, EA Sports celebrates the best and brightest of football’s world stars with its Ultimate Team TOTY promotion.
This year was no different – and, surprise surprise, Argentine legend Lionel Messi was once again included, and was given one of the best player cards in the game.
Love gaming? Listen to our podcast, One More Life!
You can argue until the cows come home about whether he deserved a spot after his move to MLS team Inter Miami and out of the limelight of European football, but that’s not the issue here.
The Messi TOTY card in FC 24 is so good that it even reached nearly 10 million coins on the Ultimate Team marketplace.
TOTY Messi was also available as a Squad Building Challenge (SBC) reward, with players earning a chance to unlock the card as a minimum rating of 86 TOTY card reward.
Somehow, EA ended up giving out way too many Messi cards as a reward for the SBC. Now, way too many players have what could be the best card in the game.
This is a problem.
Keep reading to find out everything there is to know about the FC 24 Messi TOTY situation as we explain everything that happened below.
FC 24 Messi TOTY: Situation explained as EA overshares
The EA FC 24 Messi TOTY card was accidentally given out to way too many people as a reward for the 86+ TOTY Leagues Squad Building Challenge. Since noticing the error, EA has now taken the glitched SBC offline.
This all means that many players no longer have the chance to easily earn one of the best cards in the game, and are now upset that they missed out.
Indeed, players may have to put up with loads of teams containing the 97-rated Messi TOTY card that shouldn’t have it. It should be an incredibly rare commodity, just as the 97-rated Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland and Caroline Graham Hansen cards are.
Essentially, some fans believe the glitched SBC has now left the game potentially unbalanced and unfair.
Said fans aren’t happy about it, and now it’s become a whole thing online.
Just take a look at the sheer amount of comments under EA’s X (formerly known as Twitter) post about taking the Messi TOTY-giving SBC offline and you’ll see what we mean:
We have identified an issue with the 86+ TOTY Leagues SBC, as a result we have disabled the SBC.
— EA SPORTS FC Direct Communication (@EASFCDirect) January 30, 2024
What can EA do to rebalance the game? Fans around the world are conflicted, with some arguing that everyone should now get the Messi TOTY card as compensation.
On the other hand, might argue that they could remove the card from the game, but that would not go down well with those who rightly packed the card despite it being glitched and too easy to do so.
Whatever EA ends up doing, you can read more about how fans feel about it all in this friendly Reddit thread.
One commenter in the thread suggests it’s now impossible to rebalance FUT: “The fact that so many people got Messi might harm the game a lot everyone who didn’t like me is gonna have to face him every game.”
Time will tell how EA deals with this issue.
Read more on EA FC 24:
- EA FC 24 ratings: Best players – the best players in the game
- EA FC 24 Web App & Companion App – use the Transfer Market on the go!
- EA FC 24 Heroes and Icons – classic players as superheroes
- EA Sports FC 24 PC requirements – can your PC play it?
- EA Sports FC 24 Ultimate Team – what’s changed?
- EA FC 24 soundtrack – full list of songs
- EA FC 24 on Switch – could be a big upgrade
- EA FC 24 Squad Builder – top tips to build your Ultimate Team squad
- EA FC 24 Messi rating – what’s Messi rated this year?
- EA FC 24 Bellingham rating – what’s Bellingham rated this year?
- EA FC 24 Spurs ratings – here are the best Tottenham players this year
- EA FC 24 Arsenal ratings – here are the best Arsenal players this year
- EA FC 24 Manchester United ratings – the best Man Utd players this year
- EA FC 24 wonderkids – best young players
- EA FC 24 fastest players – the quickest players
- Best kits in EA FC 24 – 11 coolest kits
- EA FC 24 strikers – best ST and CFs
- EA FC 24 goalkeepers – best GKs
- EA FC 24 defenders – best CB, RB, LB, LWB, and RWBs
- EA FC 24 wingers – best RW, LW, RM, and LMs
Listen to our One More Life podcast and subscribe to our gaming newsletter for all the latest intel.
Looking for something to watch? Check out our TV Guide or Streaming Guide.
Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10 – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.